Kassena-Nankana West Assembly confirms DCE

Published on Daily Graphic, Saturday October 5, 2013 Page 17 Members of the Kassena-Nankana West District Assembly have confirmed Mr George Nonterah, a retired educationist, as the District Chief Executive for the area. Mr Nonterah polled 51 out of the total 64 assembly votes, representing 79.7 per cent, in the election supervised by the Electoral Commission. Twelve assembly members voted against the nominee while 1 vote was rejected. Though the nominee had an overwhelming endorsement, there was drama, as prior to the sitting of the house, all 20 government appointees, including the presiding member of the house, were presented with letters revoking their appointment. The terse letter, dated September 25, 2013, signed by the Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru, read: “The Government has with effect from 16th August, 2013 revoked your appointment as government appointee for the Kassena-Nankana West District Assembly. Thank you for your service.” Subsequently, 10 out of the 20, whose appointment were revoked, were recalled while a new set of persons were appointed to the assembly as ‘government appointees’ for the confirmation process to proceed. Mr James K. Kupamwo, one of the dismissed appointees, who is also the Chiana-Paga Constituency Chairman of the NDC, described the revocation as a blot on the party in the constituency since, in his view, the interest of a greater number of people in the district had been sacrificed just for one single individual. He warned that the fortunes of the NDC in the constituency remained bleak by that singular action taken by the regional minister and regional executives of the party. He questioned the propriety of the letter revoking the appointment of members of the assembly, arguing that the same persons who were dismissed had participated in similar meetings days after August 16, 2013. Responding to the correctness or otherwise of the decision to dismiss the government appointees on the eve of the sitting of the house to consider the president’s nominee, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru maintained that the participation of the dismissed assembly members in the previously failed attempts was not illegal. He maintained that even though the revocation took effect from August 16, 2013, the dismissed appointees were not served, hence it could be argued that they were not communicated to. The regional minister said the one who appointed them could revoke their appointment at anytime, hence government did not err by dismissing them from their assembly. He dared the peeved appointees to head to court if they felt their rights had been infringed upon. Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru had earlier advised the assembly members to have the development of the place at heart and rally behind the elected DCE to develop the district. He also advised the approved DCE to work with all assembly members and not be selective in their dealings. “In a democracy, minority views must be respected,” he stressed. The regional minister assured the people that with tier support, he would push hard for the carving out of a new district out of the existing one since that was the major desire of the people. “The paper work has been completed and if we should all work hard, eschew division, it should be possible to get a new district out of the existing one,” he said. He urged the approve DCE to promote peace and unity to propel development, and urged assembly members to abstain from acts of acrimony. Mr George Nonterah , the approved DCE, expressed gratitude to the President for nominating him for the position and thanked the assembly members for the confidence reposed in him. He gave the assurance that he would run an open door administration to ensure that the problems of the district are solved together. “The complexity of our district makes us very suspicious of one another. We need to have trust for one another. Let this be the beginning of mutual respect and trust so that together we will push for the development of the area,” said Mr Nonterah who also pledged to prioritised education in his development agenda for the area. By Benjamin Xornam Glover/Daily Graphic/Ghana Writer’s email: Benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh http://graphic.com.gh/Politics/kassena-nankana-west-assembly-confirms-dce.html