The incumbent Presiding Member (PM) of the Ayawaso Municipal Assembly, Benjamin Nortey Oklah has been re-elected to the position by an overwhelming victory.
He polled 14 votes against his challenger, Mrs Grace Acheampong who had five votes out of 20 assembly members present on Thursday in an election supervised by the Electoral Commission. One ballot was rejected.
Mr Oklah during his victory speech said he needed the cooperation of all assembly members to develop the municipality.
According to him the election was just a process, and the greater part of the work rest on the shoulders of the members whose collaboration would help transform the lives of residents.
“We need to put the election campaign behind us to work together as a team towards supporting government programmes and policies for the socio-economic transformation of the people,” he added.
Mr Oklah explained that the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) cannot work in isolation thus he need the support of all members to dialogue and work as a team to achieve results.
He promised to tackle issues of sanitation which he said was dear to the heart of the assembly and assured that litter bins would be placed at all vantage points to avoid indiscriminate dumping.
Mr Oklah urged residents to register with private refuse collectors for easy collection of waste and warned that any resident caught littering the environment would not be spared.
He charged the youth to take advantage of government’s the free senior high school policy as well as scholarship packages of the assembly, earmarked for brilliant but needy students from the area.
The PM stated that he has arranged with the Northfort University to offer one scholarship to the brightest pupil in the area and urged parents and guardians to closely monitor the education of their wards.
The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng speaking at the ceremony commended the assemblyman for their commitment and urged them to play their roles effectively to advance government’s programmes and policies.
The Planting for Food and Jobs, Free Senior High School, One District One Dam, and One District One Million dollars are all geared towards advancing the socio-economic development of the people, hence the need to collaborate for effective use of the resources at their disposal, he added.
He urged the assembly to explore more avenues to generate revenue to help provide basic needs of the people.
The Municipal Co-ordinating Director, Joshua Adams Asihene on behalf of the Municipal Chief Executive commended the electorate for a peaceful election.
By Lawrence Vomafa-Akpalu
