The District Chief Executive for the Bolgatanga East District, in the Upper East Region, Reverend Emmanuel Abugre Abole, last Friday expressed disappointment about the failure of the Assembly to elect a Presiding Member (PM) after five rounds of voting.
The two contestants, Martin Ayinbire and Bismark Akolgo, vying for the position failed to secure the required votes to emerge as the new PM, after voting by the 24-member house.
Both candidates could not secure the needed two-thirds votes of the assembly after three rounds of voting during the inauguration of the newly elected assembly members into office on Thursday, January 23, 2020.
This prompted the Electoral Commission (EC) to postpone the exercise to Thursday, February, 6, 2020, for another round of balloting, but none of the candidates could garner the requisite votes after another two rounds of voting to emerge as PM.
As per the standing orders of the assembly, the two candidates have, therefore, been asked to step down for fresh candidates to be nominated and voted for at another meeting to be held later.
The DCE who expressed disappointment at the behaviour of the assembly members, stressed that the election of a PM was crucial to development and underscored the need for them to desist from taking entrenched positions.
He stated that the election of a PM would pave the way for the various committees of the assembly to be formed to ensure evenly distribution of projects across the district and appealed to all the members of the house to build a consensus for them to elect a PM in the next assembly’s sitting.
“I am disappointed at the turn of events today because a lot of consultations were held with all the stakeholders before today’s meeting to enable us to elect a substantive Presiding Member for the assembly,” the DCE said.
The District Coordinating Director, Mr David Mar-Ire, reiterated that the PM is responsible for convening meetings to deliberate on developmental issues and to implement them, and noted that the progress of the assembly could be affected with the absence of the PM.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, ZUARUNGU
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