Kwabre-East Assembly rejects President’s nominee
The incumbent District Chief Executive (DCE) of Kwabre East in the Ashanti Region, Mr Adams Iddisah, received the shock of his life yesterday when the general assembly rejected his re-nomination for the position.
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The DCE’s re-nomination by the President about two weeks ago was met with protests from a section of members of his own party — the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He could not believe his ears when the Electoral Commission representative who supervised the voting announced the results at the special meeting of the assembly at Mampongten.
He needed, at least 29 votes out of the total number of votes cast to sail through. However, of the 43 assembly members who voted, 21 voted in favour of his nomination while 21 voted against it. One vote was rejected.
The votes he received represented 48.30 per cent of the total votes cast, which fell below the required 50 per cent needed to confirm his re-nomination.That meant a second round of voting.
It was not only the DCE who was shocked at the results, the Presiding Member of the assembly, Mr George Oppong, was disturbed about the outcome too.
Mr Oppong said, “I thought the DCE was going to be confirmed but, surprisingly, this did not happen.”
Last week, scores of NDC supporters from the district invaded the Regional Coordinating Council offices and the regional offices of the NDC to protest the re-nomination of Mr Iddisah.
The police had to be brought in to prevent any nasty situation as the protesters chanted war songs, claiming the DCE did not do enough to merit another opportunity to occupy the position.
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The scene at Mampongten was tense yesterday as the outcome of the voting was not clear.
Before the ballots were cast, the DCE was given the opportunity to address the assembly members and he appealed to them to vote massively for him to enable him to continue what he described as the good work he had done since he assumed office.
He also apologised to anyone he had offended in his work, asking to “let us chart a new course for the benefit of our district and Ghana.”
Mr Adusei, the deputy Regional Minister, also appealed to the members to approve the President’s nominee so that the district could move forward in development.
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu / Daily Graphic / Ghana