Yikene’s assemblyman Francis Asare Akolbila is concerned about the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly’s failure to choose a presiding member. The Assemblymembers who had placed their names forward failed to receive two-thirds of the vote from the entire assembly after roughly six voting sessions.
Mr. Akolbila questioned why the MCE for Bolgatanga received unanimous support from all Assembly members after being nominated by the President while assemblymembers continually failed to arrive at a decision on the PM.
For the Assemblyman for the Yikene Electoral Area, it is a shame that assembly members are unable to do for themselves, what they did for the MCE.
“It is politics. Opinion [political] leaders think that if it cannot go their way, then, it should not go to anyone else. That is the problem. Assemblies should be seen as non-partisan areas but it looks like there is some political interest there.”
“This is the first time. I am very surprised about what is going on. Even before I went to the assembly, there had never been this kind of attitude before. What even surprises me most is, when it came to the confirmation of the MCE, we gave him 100 percent support. So what is holding us back?”
Mr. Akolbila explained that meetings had been held to remind assembly members of the importance of putting aside their partisan allegiances in order to try to appoint a PM.
“We have been doing it, but when you get to the booth, it is a different story. You talk, they will listen to you and say what you have said is true, but when they get to the booth, it is a different story. What do you do then?”
To ensure that the Assembly is able to elect a PM ahead of its dissolution, the political influence must stop, Mr. Akolbila said.
“If the political opinion leaders would leave the assembly members to vote with their own consciences, we could have made some headway. Not having a PM in the Bolga Municipal Assembly is not good for us. We should have had a PM who would chart the way. We have made several attempts, but we are unable to get it,” he said.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana