Agona West Assembly endorses first woman MCE

Members of the Agona West Municipal Assembly in the Central Region at its sitting last Friday overwhelmingly endorsed Mrs Justina Marigold Assan as the first woman Municipal Chief Executive (MCE).

Since the commencement of the Fourth Republic in 1992, all the chief executives appointed to head the municipality had been man and so her appointment by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a shift from the male-dominated appointments from the previous years.

The 40-year-old MCE, until her appointment, was the Head of the Home Economics Department at the Obrachire Senior High Technical School (OSTECH) at Awutu Obrachire. She holds a master’s degree in Home Economics from the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).

The election, which was conducted in a peaceful atmosphere at the Agona Swedru Town Hall, was supervised by officials of the Electoral Commission (EC), led by the District Electoral Officer, Mr Annobil Forson.

Dignitaries who attended the event were the Central Regional Minister, Mr Kwamena Duncan; his deputy, Mr Thomas Agyei Baffoe; Minister of Transport, Mr Kweku Asiamah; MP for Assin North, Mr Kennedy Agyapong; Central Regional NPP Chairman, Mr Robert Kutin; Agona East DCE, Mr Dennis Armah Frimpong, among others.

 Some traditional leaders, who were also present, were the President of Agona Nyakrom Traditional Council  Okofo Katakyi Nana Nyarku Eku X, the Chief of Agona Swedru Ogidigram Okrupi Nana Kobina Asiedu Botwe II.

Results

At the end of voting, which lasted less than 30 minutes, out of the 44 member assembly, 41 voted in favour of the nominee while three voted against her.

Subsequently, the Regional Minister led her to swear the oath of office and secrecy which was welcomed with thunderous jubilation from party supporters who thronged the venue to witness the event.

Acceptance speech

In her acceptance speech, Mrs Assan thanked the assembly members for burying their political differences to endorse her as the next MCE for the municipality.

She pledged to operate an open-door administration that would accommodate people irrespective of their political affiliation.

‘’I assure you of my preparedness to serve the people of Agona West to the best of my ability to better the lot of the ordinary masses,’’ she added.

She called on the assembly members and other heads of decentralised departments to come on board to support the assembly to address some of the basic needs of the constituents.

Minister

For his part, Mr Kwamena Duncan commended the assembly members for endorsing the President’s nominee and further called on them to rally behind her towards the growth of the municipality.

He charged the MCE to reach out to all disgruntled party members who openly demonstrated against her nomination, adding that ‘‘such a bold step would enable her to garner the support of all and sundry to administer the municipality in peace and tranquility’’.

He urged her to join the government’s effort to protect the public purse by ensuring that there was always value for money in the execution of government projects.

Additionally, he noted that such a move would enable the government to save enough money that would be channelled into policies and programmes to alleviate the plight of the suffering masses.