KMA boss survives another rebellion

Yet another attempt by a group of 45 members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to oust Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the chief executive, has been aborted on legal grounds.

A writ filed before a Kumasi High Court by Messrs Francis Adjei Mensah and Kwabena Amofa-Sarpong, both government appointees of KMA, sought an interim injunction to restrain the Presiding Member and Metro Co-ordinating Director from holding any meeting with the intent of passing a vote of no confidence in Jumah.

A Kumasi High Court will on June 24, this year, be moved to properly interpret Section 4 (b) of the Standing Orders of the assembly and whether the seven days’ notice required for convening a meeting called by a third of the members shall be calculated from the date the notice is written or from the time of receipt of the summons of the meeting.

The plaintiff/applicants argued that the intended meeting was “unlawful and illegal.”

In an affidavit of support, the plaintiffs prayed the court for proper and true interpretation of sections of the Standing Orders of the Assembly.

Last Thursday, June 13, the Presiding Member, Nana Nsiah Awuah, convened an emergency meeting at the instance of 45 members in line with paragraphs 17, sub-paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of the Standing Orders of the Assembly.

The agitation by the assembly members is the sixth attempt in a year to pass a vote of no confidence in Jumah, also known as Kofi Ghana.

The Chronicle has learnt that 45 of the assembly members are being pushed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) constituency chairmen and some political bigwigs.

The party chairmen who met last June 11 to give legs to the aborted meeting, are accusing Jumah of sidelining them but the Chronicle can authoritatively reveal that three of the six chairmen have been awarded various contracts by the KMA.

The aggrieved members would not make known reasons for their agitation.

They would want to keep it as a ‘surprise package’ in order to take Jumah unawares.

They think Jumah is a ‘smart guy’ capable of mobilising defences to the charges if he gets to know about them.

A source close to the group hinted that a minimum of 13 and a maximum of 66 charges had been levelled against the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) Jumah.

The Chronicle has also learnt that the 45 could not have had an easy way carrying out their threat of passing a vote of no confidence in the MCE.

The Ministry of Local Government sources responding to Chronicle enquiries explained that the intended meeting was unconstitutional and therefore not valid.

It was further explained that both Act 462 and the Constitution required two-thirds of the entire membership of the House (86 in the case of KMA) to pass a vote of no confidence.

“The Constitution stresses on two-thirds of all members and not majority,” the source disclosed, saying that they have not exhausted all procedures within the law.

Last February 30 assembly members took a similar move against Kofi Jumah for alleged administrative lapses contrary to L.I. 1614.

It was nipped in the bud by the intervention of the Minister of Local Government, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu.

The ritual by which a section of the assembly members rise against the MCE every two months started in June last year barely a month after Jumah assumed office.

Twenty-two signatories had initiated that move then but Jumah has survived all these ‘attacks’ because most of the allegations have been found to be baseless and without justifiable reason.

At a crisis meeting last March, Jumah’s accusers eventually came into a compromise to co-operate with him in the running of the assembly since most of the allegations levelled against him bordered on technicalities.

In the face of these incessant agitations, Jumah has assured that he would continue to work for the aspirations of the 1.1 million constituents of the metropolis.

“Improving on the quality of life of the people and the general development of the metropolis are my preoccupation,” he said simply in reaction to the purported loss of confidence in him by the 45 members.