Nominate Another MCE For Ho-VYAP Tells Prez

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The Volta Youth Advocacy Platform has called on the President, H.E John Dramani Mahama to nominate another candidate for the position of Ho Municipal Chief Executive for another assembly election.?

Mrs. Fafa Adinyira.
Mrs. Fafa Adinyira.

According to the group the margin of rejection as stated by newspaper reportage is very alarming and as rightly stated by the Deputy Volta Regional Minister after the voting it shows clearly that the entire assembly members had total rejected Mrs. Fafa Adinyira.

“The revelations coming out from the post election point to the fact that the Deputy Volta Regional Minister Hon. Ganyaglo after admitting that the woman has been rejected outright is spearheading a dangerous political agenda to divide the party and at the same time to destroy the fortune of the party come 2016.”

In a statement issued and signed by its Director Mr. Mensah Deku, the group indicated that it was clear from their findings that, the interest to re-nominate the rejected candidate is dividing the Ho Central constituency and the political authority of the Regional Capital of the Volta region, in effect Ho the Municipal and Regional capital.

“As a matter of urgency the President must walk the talk and listen to the voice of the assembly members, the National Democratic Congress of the Ho central and the entire Asogli Traditional area to work hard to give a substantive Municipal Chief Executive to the Ho Municipal Assembly immediately.”

“The citizens of Ho and the entire Directors of the Volta Youth Advocacy Platform want to register their anger on the grounds of deceit and political manipulation of the Volta Regional Minister, Hon. Afotey Agbo, the Deputy Volta Regional Minister Hon. Ganyaglo and a few leading members of the party to use money to influence assembly members to re-elect the defeated presidential nominee Madam Adinyra.”

the statement also mentioned that Former President Rawlings has cautioned the party faithful to allow a free hand in all political grass-root activities in order to allow the people to elect their own executives even at the assembly level in strengthening the party at the grassroots level.

“What does the Local Government Act 462 say?

The two main documents which guide the conduct of all assemblies are;

  1. The Act itself i.e. Local Government Act, 1993 Act 462 and
  2. The model standing orders for District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies,

In both documents it is stated clearly how a person can be appointed as DCE or MCE.

The act on page 20 clause 20 subsection 1 clearly states quote ?There shall be a District Chief Executive for each district who shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds majority of the members of a district assembly present and voting at the meeting?.

It is much clearer on page 9 of the model standing orders. Part 4 under District chief executive clause 15 and 16 especially 15 (1) and 16 (6) (7) (8) (9) and (10) especially 16(10) state categorically the percentage votes that can confirm a nominee and the percentage which can cause a nominee to be rejected outright.

It is important that we do not create a seeming struggle between men and women as some of the statements are unfortunate and distasteful. The integrity, allegiance and competence of the assembly members should also not be made a subject matter in the ongoing discussion.”

It said, Whether, Mrs. Adinyira is re-nominated or not, it is the same assembly members who would be called upon to vote for her endorsement or otherwise. It is therefore important that the same people who would endorse the person should not be castigated nor denigrated and that in recent years very competent people from diverse backgrounds and professions go into our Assemblies and so it should be expected that such people are rationale and discerning enough to do what is in the best interest of their various assemblies.

“The issue of the woman losing also raises serious security concerns. Did the BNI, National Security and other agencies do their background checks? If they did, what were the pointers? Was the ground favourable for the woman to get the nod? If it was, then what changed and why did things change so drastically? At what point did the indicators change?

Were these security checks properly communicated to the Flagstaff house (i.e. the Presidency?)

Has there been any further security checks after she was rejected? What are the signals pointing to?

Assuming the woman was going to get the nod, then one would expect that she should rather be getting the 28 votes or more and not the 14 as it turned out.

As it stands now, is she in a position to move from the 14 through 20 to the required 28 or more votes?

What has to be done to get her to that level? Can it be done? Would anything change?”

They pointed out that the views of other opinion leaders and stakeholders must? be sought in times like this.

“What is the position of say the Ho Chiefs, the Ho Queen mothers and other power brokers on the issue? It is refreshing that at some point, the demonstrators talked of the woman being competent. It should be emphasized that the gender agenda should not be pushed just for the sake of gender. It is important that women should draw on their comparative advantages and strengthens rather than be seen merely advocating for positions just because they are feminine. If that were the case then the advocates can do a better job even lobbying at higher pedestals for Madam Adinyira.”

Information gathered indicates that she was a losing Parliamentary nominee. It is obvious that it is not only the assembly members who rejected the woman, but the larger NDC party members also refused to vote for her to become an MP. Seeing the efforts she put in from that level, could she not have been considered for a ministerial or deputy ministerial appointment?

“Considering that she is competent and hails from the world bank of the ruling National Democratic Congress Party, it should have been much easier getting her an appointment, rather than the process of going through a vote to attain a position.”

The group believes that there are? more questions than answers so for now it would suffice that we deal with the issues raised before we attempt any further scrutiny of the system, saying “All said and done it looks like there is still a lot more work to be done in the Ho area to get all concerned agreeing on a common agenda so as to push the municipality which also doubles as the regional capital forward. This is a test case for not only Ho but to all who care about the total development of the Volta region because if Ho, the capital gets it right the rippling effects will benefit the whole of the Volta Region and Ghana.”

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