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AAK District Assembly fail to elect Presiding Member

The Abura Asebu Kwamankese District of the Central Region was unable to elect a Presiding Member after two rounds of voting.

Date Created : 10/21/2015 12:00:00 AM : Story Author :

The two candidates, Mr. Ekow Sam and Mr. Solomon Albert Bondzie, who were vying for the position failed to secure two-thirds of the votes of the 44-member Assembly, which should be at least 28.

Mr. Ekow Sam pooled 24 votes out of the 43 ballots cast in the first round and as that was not enough to elect him, a second ballot was conducted where he received 25 votes of the total ballot cast.

The Assembly, in consultation with the Electoral Commission, postponed the elections to a date yet to be disclosed.

Prior to the voting, members of the Assembly argued for hours over the exact number of Government appointees for the Assembly leading to some 18 members walking out of the house only to be sworn in later in the day.

They insisted that the number of Government appointees should have been nine and not 13 and claimed that the Government was trying to impose some members into the assembly.

According to them, the procedure used for the event was in complete violation of Act 462 sub-section 5 of the District assembly Act, which stipulates the composition of the Assembly.

Some traditional leaders present also criticised the mode of appointment, saying they were not consulted before the appointees were appointed even though they were by law to be consulted.

Mr. Charles Antwi Kyereme, a representative of the President, admonished the Assembly members to put national interest above all parochial party interest to ensure good governance at the local level.

He asked the assembly to consider means of generating revenue to fund some development projects in the district to reduce the over reliance on the central government.

He urged the assembly members to serve well to improve on the general living conditions of the people and involve them in the local government system.

The District Coordinating Director Mr. Abdul Rahman Sahib, noted that the efficiency of the local government system was central to national development and entreated the newly elected members to serve with dignity to make the system more efficient.