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| Mrs. Adinyira (left) taking her oath of office |
Members of the Ho Municipal Assembly on Monday confirmed Mrs.
Fafa Adinyira, as the first woman Municipal Chief Executive after she polled 27
votes against 14 in the second round of the polls.
Mrs. Adinyira could not get the two third votes of the 42
member House in the first round when she got only 26 votes in favour and 15
against. It was only after an hour’s break when there were a lot of
consultations and lobbying that the tides changed in her favour.
The nominee whose rejection in September led to a spontaneous protest and agitation by
women group including market women led by their queen, Mama Mansah Dagbey, who
is now part of the new government appointees.
Before the proceedings begun, the Presiding Member Hon. Yao
Semordey announced to members a letter received from the Volta Regional
Coordinating Council and signed by the Minister, Hon. Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, revoking
the appointment of all 14 government appointees to the assembly and subsequent nomination
of new persons who were to be sworn in to take part in the proceedings.
The move didn’t go down well with some of the assembly
members, as they argued that the procedure adopted to introduce and swear in
new members was alien to the assembly standing orders and moreover that wasn’t
part of the agenda served them.
“The attempt to stampede the process cannot see the light of
day in the Ho municipal assembly, if it has taken place elsewhere, certainly it
cannot take happen in here. Let’s make this clear to the powers that be.” Mr.
Delali Kasu an assembly member said and described the move as an ‘ambush
attack’ on assembly members.
Some Assembly members also questioned the re-nomination of
Mrs. Adinyira, with the contention that she lost without attaining 50 percent
votes in the previous elections held on the 10th of September this year. They
argued that in accordance with the Standing Orders of the Assembly and the
Local Government Law, it is an illegality to re-nominate her.
But the Deputy Volta Regional Minister, Francis Ganyaglo
quoted an amendment to the law. He quoted Article 16 clause as amended in the
Local Government Law to the effect that the President’s action is in accordance
with the law.
The development brought a lot of heated arguments and
comments in disagreement for close to an hour but the 14 new government
appointees were sworn in paving way for voting to commence.
In a brief remark before the voting, the Volta regional
minister Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo admonished the assembly members not to act in a
manner that will send signals to country that there is a power struggle between
the president of the country and members of an assembly with the appointment of
a chief executive. “In our Ghanaian culture, the decision of our elders is respected
and never challenge, even if you have a contrary view” he said and asked the
members to trust the president’s choice of Mrs. Adinyira as MCE.
The assembly members were however not perturbed by the
minister’s admonition as the woman was only given the nod after the second
round of voting.
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| Regional Minister (R) and his Deputy |
Top echelon of the NDC, including Mr. Kwesi Aboagye, and
Simon Amegashie-Viglo regional chairman and secretary respectively, and some
municipal and District Chief executives from the region were present at the
meeting. There were also scores of police officers during the proceedings.
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