The President’s nominees for the positions of District Chief Executive for Atebubu-Amantin and Pru districts in the Brong Ahafo Region were rejected by their respective assemblies at separate special meetings held at Amantin and Yeji on Tuesday.
The nominees, Mr Sanja Nanja, 41, a teacher, and Masawud Mohammed, a tutor at the Atebubu Teacher Training College, who were nominated for the positions of DCE for the Atebbubu-Amantin and Pru districts failed to secure the two thirds of votes from the assembly members present at the meeting.
Subsequently both nominees have within 10 days to present themselves for approval by their respective assemblies for the second time.
At the meeting held at the Roman Catholic School at Amantin about 47miles from Atebubu, the district capital, to confirm Mr Nanja, 19 out of the 32 Assembly members present voted ‘Yes’ while 13 voted ‘No’, which fell short of the required 21 votes needed to get the two-thirds majority to enable him to get the approval.
There was also heavy police and military presence at the venue for the confirmation of Mr Nanja to maintain law and order while his supporters gathered round the building to catch a glimpse of the proceedings, which was supervised by the District Directorate of the Electoral Commission (EC).
Immediately the results of the polls was announced, some supporters of Mr Nanja who were angered flared up and cast insinuation at the assembly members.
However, there were pockets of jubilation at the Atebubu township when information got there that Mr Nanja failed to get the approval.
Mr Nanja, who expressed shock about the inability of the assembly members to confirm him, pledged that he was going to do his home work well to be confirmed by the assembly when they meet again.
Mr Nanja’s nomination as the DCE for Atebubu-Amantin was kicked against by the chiefs, sub-chiefs and people of the Atebubu Traditional Area when the announcement was made recently.
In a statement signed by the Omanhene of Atebubu, Nana Owusu Akyeaw Brempong II, after an emergency meeting at his palace the Atebubu Traditional Council appealed to the President to reconsider his decision as the council would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to work with him.
According to the statement, nobody from the Atebubu Traditional Area, and for that matter Atebubu, the district capital, had ever been appointed to the position of DCE ever since the decentralisation concept started.
Nana Brempong, before the meeting on Tuesday to confirm Mr Nanja, had gone public to make known his stand against the President’s nominee.
At the Pru District Assembly Hall at Yeji, the district capital, Mr Mohammed also failed to secure the two thirds of the votes cast by the 36 assembly members after two rounds of voting of which the second was nullified as a ballot paper that was not validated was found among the validated ones after the voting.
Twenty of the assembly members voted ‘Yes’ while 16 of them voted ‘No’, which fell short of the 24 votes required to enable him to be confirmed.
After a 30-minute closed-door meeting with the assembly members with the presence of the Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, who was there to witness the proceedings, the assembly members came into the hall again for the second round of voting to confirm the nominee but he failed to make the mark once again as he polled 22 votes as against 14.
However, the round-off was nullified as an invalidated ballot paper was found among the validated ones.
Supporters of Mr Mohammed who had converged on the venue left for home disappointed, and promised to go and do their home work well to enable the nominee to get the nod the next time.
Mr Mohammed appealed to the assembly members to vote to confirm him when they reconvene the second time.
The Assembly elected Mr Wisdom K. Zor, 38, a tutor at the Yeji Senior High School, as the Presiding Member for the Pru District Assembly after two rounds of voting, obtaining 23 against his contender during the first voting. Mr Frank Atti, also a worker at the assembly who secured 13 votes while after the second round of voting Mr Zor got 28 votes as against eight votes secured by Mr Atti.
Mr Opoku earlier in his remarks called on all local government actors, especially assembly members, traditional rulers, the losing contestants and opinion leaders to bury their differences and give their support as well as their maximum cooperation to ensure that the President’s nominees for the position of Municipal and District Chief Executives gets the nod to hasten the development pace in their various districts.
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