Kpone-Katamanso assembly members fight PM, MCE

Although the election of regional representatives to the Council of State is over, assembly members in the Kpone Katamanso Municipal Assembly have locked horns with the Presiding Member (PM) and the municipal chief executive (MCE) over how nominations were made to constitute the Electoral College for the council of state election.

The assembly members, including the government appointees, expressed their displeasure about how the processes were handled.

Context

In the Greater Accra Region, a former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr E. T. Mensah secured 100 per cent of the 58 delegates who were all in white attire and cast their votes for him.

He contested the poll with Mr Michael Kofi Mensah, a Managing Consultant, and Mr John Mantse Akwetey, a Communication Specialist, who obtained zero vote each.

Another candidate, Mr Charles Parker-Allotey, withdrew from the contest minutes before the commencement of the poll, while the former Greater Accra Regional representative of the Council of State, Nii Kotei Dzani, had earlier withdrawn from the race.

Meeting

 Responding to the concerns of the assembly members on the floor of the assembly, the MCE for Kpone Katamanso, Mr Solomon Tettey Appiah, said that circumstances that led to their nomination into the electoral college was beyond his control.

He said that an order was given from the top hierarchy of his party to have him and the presiding member take part in the council of state election.

Mr Tettey further appealed to the assembly members to exercise some restraint as leadership was working to rectify some of the challenges.

According to him, over the years, assembly members conveyed a meeting to nominate officers to form the electoral college, saying it did not happen this time.

“These did not happen only in Kpone Katamanso, but across the country,” he admitted.

Hebron

The assembly member for Hebron, Mr George Ahingu, accused the leadership of violating the requirements of the 1992 Constitution and that the municipal assembly could be sued for such anomalies.

He noted that going forward assembly members would not condone any form of flagrant disregard to the laid down principles of the constitution of the Republic of Ghana.