Navrongo Municipal Assembly endorses President’s nominee ON 21 SEPTEMBER 2013.

Mr Mark WoyongoMembers of the Kassena-Nankana East Municipal Assembly in the Upper East Region have voted to confirm Dr Stanislaus Alu Kadingdi as Municipal Chief Executive (MCE). Dr Kadingdi, a teacher with International Development background, polled 33 votes, representing 67 per cent, as against 16 votes against his nomination. The election was supervised by the Electoral Commission (EC), which was represented by Mr Bruce Ayisi, the Regional Director, and his Deputy, Mr Azu Bosco Anyigire. The MCE elect was immediately sworn into office by the Navrongo District Magistrate, Mrs Comfort A. Apalayine. In his post-endorsement speech, Dr Kadingdi expressed his appreciation to the President for nominating him and the assembly members for the confidence reposed in him and pledged to work harmoniously with the assembly members and the various technocrats in the Municipal Assembly to fast track the much needed development agenda for the municipality. “I am a team worker, and I entreat all of you to work with me to explore new areas and then together we will develop the municipality. As a house, we must in spite of our differences find common grounds, negotiate and build trust to ensure that the municipality does not pay the price in the quest to get things our way at all cost,” he said. Dr Kandingdi promised to operate an open-door policy and therefore called on all assembly members, heads of decentralised agencies and departments and traditional rulers to give him the needed support to succeed in dealing with some of the development challenges confronting the municipality. The Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Daniel Syme, advised the MCE elect to build bridges and reach out to the entirety of the assembly, if he is to succeed in his new appointment. He said municipality lagged behind in development due to the fact that funds, such as the Common Fund, DDF and the Urban Grant which were meant to support the assembly to pursue development programmes, had been held back because of the absence of a substantive MCE. Mr Syme said with the successful endorsement of the MCE, development programmes would be rolled out for the benefit of the people. He urged the MCE elect not to lord his position over the people but constantly make room to listen to their concerns, consult widely before taking any major decision and forge unity in the municipality. The Member of Parliament for Navrongo Central and Minister for Defence, Mr Mark Woyongo, commended the assembly members for endorsing the nominee. He appealed to the assembly members to, in the interest of the Navrongo Municipality, put their differences aside and work together as a house. He said deliberations in the house must be devoid of partisan politics and rather be focused more on how to develop Navrongo and its environs. “Navrongo is crying for development. Now that Navrongo is a municipality, we need to work to justify that status,” Mr Woyongo added. He announced some development projects which had been lined up for the municipality, the major one being the drainage system for the area, which is currently in a deplorable state. He said as MP, he had been able to secure the approval for the rehabilitation of the drainage system in the municipality. The MP said he had also been able to secure an ambulance for the Kologo Health Centre and was expecting an amount of GH¢440 million to rehabilitate the health centre and provide accommodation for staff so that arrangements could be made for a permanent doctor to be stationed there to serve communities in the southern corridor of the municipality, which are all far from the Navrongo Hospital. He said as MP he was pushing hard for the upgrading of the Navrongo–Naaga road to ease travelling on that corridor. He also announced that a school building project had also been earmarked for Doba to provide a comfortable environment for teaching and learning. He pledged to work closely with assembly members and take on board some of their recommendations and appealed to the assembly members to work as a team and channel their development needs through the Presiding Members in order to prioritise their concerns to bring development to the people. By Benjamin Xornam Glover/Daily Graphic/Ghana http://graphic.com.gh/Politics/navrongo-municipal-assembly-endorses-presidents-nominee.html