Gomoa East District elects first Presiding Member

The Gomoa East District Assembly, a newly created assembly, has elected its first Presiding Member (PM) at a special meeting.

Mr Benjamin Roland Andoh, who is the Assembly member for the Dasum/Amoanda electoral area, was the only person who picked the nomination form at the close of nomination. He secured all the 17  votes, representing 100 per cent all the  to be elected as the new PM of the assembly for a two-year tenure.

Mr Andoh, 34, is also a Stock Control Supervisor at the Accra Brewery Limited (ABL).

The district is among the new districts that were created and recently inaugurated; and, therefore, needed a PM to chair the assembly’s meetings towards its smooth and effective administration.

The new PM was subsequently sworn into office by the Judge at the Swedru Magistrate Court, Mr Isaac Appeatu, to enable him to perform his constitutionally mandated duties.

Read Also : Upper Manya Assembly fails to elect presiding member

Previous election

The assembly, at its last sitting two months ago, failed to elect a new PM after two rounds of voting since none of the two candidates was able to secure the required votes to be elected.

The Assembly Member for Gomoa Dampase, Mr Nicholas Otchie, and the Assembly Member for Gomoa Ojobi, Mr Joseph Ato Quartey, contested in the first election. After the first round of voting, Mr Otchie had 10 votes, while Mr Ato Quartey secured six votes, with two votes rejected.

In the second round of voting, Mr Otchie had 12 votes while Mr Quartey had four votes. However, none of them put themselves up again to contest in the next election.

Deputy minister

The Deputy Central Regional Minister, Mr Thomas Yaw Agyei Baffoe, commended the assembly members for finally electing a PM to steer the affairs of the assembly since the absence of a PM would negatively affect the progress of the assembly.

He charged them to cooperate with whoever would be appointed to be endorsed as the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the new district, adding that ‘there is the need for a cordial working relationship among you towards achieving the desired progress in the district.”

Prospects

Mr Baffoe noted: “Though this is a young district, it has a lot of prospects, and management must take pragmatic steps and strategies to rake in more revenue locally to drive its growth and development.”

He charged them to take advantage of the numerous quarry sites, as well as sand-winning operations in the area to increase the internally generated fund (IGF) of the assembly, noting that the IGF was essential towards the survival of the assembly.