Another round of voting for President John Mahama’s nominees for the position of District Chief Executives (DCEs) for various District Assemblies took place over the weekend with rejections characterizing the polls.
Most of the nominees were rejected by the assemblies for the second time in a row, putting the President in an uncomfortable position.
For instance at Akyem Swedru, a frustrated Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mavis Ama Frimpong threatened the Assembly members that the President would have no choice but to impose the rejected DCE for Birim South, Baffour Takyi, on them.
“I regretted coming to this meeting. If I knew you were going to vote this way and reject Baffour Takyi the second time, I would not have come at all. But I say to you that the President will renominate and renominate and renominate him. No one else will be nominated so if you continue to reject him, the President will ask him to continue acting as your DCE,” she emphasised.
At the Dormaa East District Assembly, the DCE, Isaac Kofi Kyeremeh, on Thursday had the shock of his life when he failed to pass the mark to be retained.
Mr Kyeremeh, who until the election, was optimistic of securing a one-touch victory, was rejected by the members of the assembly after he secured 15 votes out of the total of 29 votes, thereby failing to obtain the required two-thirds majority.
He would face a second daunting task in 10 days’ time in another election where his fate would be determined in his bid to secure a second-term in office.
Meanwhile, a section of the assembly members who voted against the DCE, has vowed to reject him again in the next round of voting.
The concerned assembly members told DAILY GUIDE that Mr Kyeremeh had performed abysmally in office in the last four years and they would therefore not give him another opportunity to retard the progress of the district since the district was already lagging in development.
Upper Denkyira West
At Diaso in the Upper Denkyira West District, for the second time in 10 days, the Assembly members rejected the nomination of Manfield Ackah Yankey, the incumbent District Chief Executive.
Last week, the two-time defeated MP aspirant for the Upper Denkyira West constituency fell short of the required votes to enable him to be retained, compelling the local electoral officer to reschedule another day for voting.
But Mr Yankey was again rejected after polling 14 out of the 23 votes cast.
Prior to the elections, six government appointees were sacked and replaced with new appointees, but Mr Yankey still couldn’t get the required votes to confirm him as the DCE for the area.
The former Government appointees were removed from office after Mr. Yankey failed to garner the required two-thirds majority of the Assembly on Wednesday, July 10.
The assembly had voted against the DCE and the government appointees by 12 votes to 10, with one rejected ballot.
Pleas by the Regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong to the members of the Assembly to vote for the nominee to enable him to continue with the development projects he had initiated landed on deaf ears.
Article 16 of the District Assemblies’ Standing Orders stipulate, among others, that the President’s nominee must get two-thirds majority of the Assembly to qualify as the DCE and if he or she gets 50 percent of the valid votes cast, there should be a second round of voting within 10 days.
If the nominee fails to secure the two-thirds majority after the second round of voting, the President must withdraw his nomination and make new nominations.
Mr. Yankey had been rejected by his District Assembly and thereforewould have his nomination withdrawn.
NDC Communication Director of the party in the constituency, Kwabena Frimpong Boateng said this was an indication that Mr Yankey was not fit to lead the people of Upper Denkyira West.
“Enough is enough. When the President nominated him, we rejected it but the leadership of the party didn’t heed our concerns so we decided to bank our hopes on the assembly members and they didn’t let us down. Not even money and gifts shared could coerce them to vote for him. He is a bad leader, corrupt and dangerous,” Boateng told DAILY GUIDE.
MCE Sacked
In a related development, the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Chief Executive, Peter Kofi Owusu Ashia has been asked to proceed on leave immediately.
He is expected to hand over all documents to the Central Regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong, who will act as the MCE until a substantive Chief Executive is nominated by the president.
Mr Ashia was invited by the National Security on 7th June, 2013 for allegedly engaging in illegal mining operations.
Some residents in the municipality were in a jubilant mood when the news broke on Friday morning.
Paga
The President’s nominee for Kassena-Nankana West, Thomas Adda Dalu was on Saturday also rejected for the second time by members of the assembly who failed to confirm him as the District Chief Executive (DCE).
Mr Dalu, who had been the DCE for the last four years, had his support reduced at the assembly by two votes, managing only 38 votes during the second voting.
The nominee was expected to secure two-thirds of the votes outright to be confirmed.
During the first round of voting, he polled 50 per cent. The President would thus have to nominate a different person for that position.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru, who observed the voting process, noted that the rejection was a signal that all was not well with the party in the area and said there was the urgent need for the party to sit up and address whatever problems they had in the area.
The Presiding Member of the Assembly, Dominic Aboziah, who is also eyeing the DCE position, said he was short of words in expressing himself after extensive deliberations to get members to vote to confirm the President’s nominee.
Mr Dalu polled 38 against 26 votes in the 64 member assembly.
Over Voting
At the Kwahu East District, there was total confusion when over-voting halted the second attempt to confirm Samuel Asamoah as the District Chief Executive (DCE) on Thursday.
After the voting supervised by the Regional Electoral officer, which saw a total number of 33 assembly members casting their votes, 37 ballot sheets were strangely found in the ballot box after counting.
Strangely, all the 37 ballot sheets were stamped with the Electoral Commission’s (EC) embossment which made them genuine.
What puzzled those present was how the four votes managed to enter the ballot box in the full glare of the assembly members and the EC.
The President’s nominee polled 22 votes; the exact figure to make the two-thirds majority needed to win the post.
Kwame Agyapong, the Presiding Member (PM) for the assembly, expressed his amazement at what had happened and said the assembly members would meet to discuss the confirmation or otherwise of the DCE.
Mavis Ama Frimpong, the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, who witnessed the process, indicated that the assembly members could not entirely blame the EC for the unfortunate event and suggested that investigation be done to unearth the truth.
About a week ago, the assembly failed to elect Mr Asamoah when he failed to secure the required two-thirds majority, as 19 members voted for him and 13 against, with one rejected vote.
Mr Asamoah had suffered the same fate last four years when he failed in the first election but got the nod the second time.
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