Residents of Klottey Korley want indigene as MCE

Residents in the Klottey Korley Municipality have reiterated their call on the President to appoint an indigene of the area as the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE).

According to them, information reaching them indicated that a non-indigene was being appointed as the MCE, hence their call on the President to reconsider the decision.

“Nobody can develop a community or a society better than the people from the community,” the spokesperson for the group, Mr Dan Taylor, said at a press conference in Osu on Tuesday.

The group said it recognised and respected the constitutional prerogative of the President to appoint local representatives within the confines of the existing local government framework, “However, we are calling on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) not to satisfy some selfish and parochial interests in the appointment, but rather look out for the general interest of the people and the residents of the municipality,” Mr Taylor added.

“The MCE for La is an indigene, the MCE of Teshie is an indigene, the MCE of Nungua is an indigene, the MCE for Kpone is an indigene and the MCE for Ada is also an indigene. Why do we always have a cabal against the interest of the indigenes of Osu and Klottey Korle in general. Are we saying that the Klottey Korle people have no capable leader to lead the municipality?” the group questioned.

Fight back

They said the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Ishmael Ashitey, on an Accra FM radio on April 3, 2017 backed the call of the appointment of an indigene as Tema MCE.

According to them, the minister indicated that an MCE must understand the culture of the people he or she was going to serve, he said the minister stated emphatically that he was going to advise the president to consider the plea of the Tema people.

They indicated that the regional minister had taken a contradictory move to support a non-indigene to become the MCE for Klottey Korle Municipal Assembly for his personal interest.

“We are not ready to cooperate with a non-native MCE. If after all the plea a non-native is imposed on us, we will not accord him or her the usual courtesy. We shall fight back to express our discontent,” he stated.

“It is regrettable that our forefathers gave our lands for the capital city Accra including the recent acquisition of the large stretch coastal enclave for the Marine Drive Project. It is now clear that the people of Osu, Adabraka and Asylum Down were selling their identity and treasures when their forefathers gave their ancestral home for development,” he added.

Disrespect

They further revealed that even the NPP constituency executives, the Council of elders and patron had been marginalised and disrespected in the selection process which was against the rules pertaining to the process of the appointment of an MCE.

According to the group, the general membership of the NPP members in the municipality were not happy with the decision and the regional minister, the chief executive officer of the AMA and the Accra NPP chairman were to be blamed.

“We believe that the position of the MCE has much to do with the locals and the culture of the people than a Member of Parliament who is not an indigene, but we will reject a non-indigene as MCE,” he stressed.