MP Attacks Kufuor

Akatsi -- Mr Doe Adjaho, Member of Parliament (MP) for Avenor, has said that President John A. Kufuor’s inaugural address to the assemblies that touched on partisanship or otherwise of the district assemblies was misdirected.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Adjaho noted that it was wrong for the issue to be directed to the district assemblies, adding that it was not the appropriate forum.

Mr Adjaho, Minority Chief Whip in Parliament, observed that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in its manifesto, made the district assembly elections partisan. ‘The appropriate forum is Parliament through a Bill or its inclusion in the President’s Sessional Address.’’

He declared “we are not practising a federal system where powers will be delegated to the lower structures of democratisation”.

Mr Adjaho claimed that the Bill should come to parliament and when it is given the two-thirds majority assent, it then becomes law.

Meanwhile, proceedings at the inauguration of the Ketu district assembly on Monday suffered a jolt following criticism against the ceremony by Mr Modestus Ahiable, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu North.

This happened soon after Mr Linus Koffie, the District Chief Executive (DCE), gave his welcoming address and introduced the 74 members of the assembly, made up of 59 elected and 24 government appointees, including nine females to the gathering that included chiefs and Mr Yaw Barima, Minister of Works and Housing.

Mr Ahiable stressed that it was wrong for the DCE to sign the letter convening the inauguration ceremony, and argued that it invalidated the ceremony.

He claimed that Order 1 of the Local Government Law stated that inaugural meetings of the Assemblies ‘’shall be convened only by the District Co-ordinating director who is secretary to the assembly until a presiding member is elected.’’

Mr Ahiable further explained that Order 5 made it clear that an inaugural meeting inappropriately called, whether it took place or not, could only be validated by another meeting called to rectify it.

Mr Francis Opoku, Circuit Court judge who was to do the swearing of assembly members, declined to interpret the law when asked by Mr Ahiable to help, saying that he was not presiding at a Court of law.

Amidst mixed reactions from the gathering, Togbe Sape Agbo, Makoso of Some traditional area, who was chairman for the function, saved matters when he pleaded for compromise in the interest of the district.

Mr Barima, who stood in for the President, pointed out that the local government system cannot be over-emphasised in view of the heavy responsibility in providing good roads, hospitals and other amenities for the people.

However, there was another hold-up during the election of a presiding member and sub-committee members when Mr Ahiable again raised the issue of wrong convening of the meeting and insisted that something must be done to rectify the situation.

He disagreed with Mr Koffie that the issue was a trivial one maintaining that nothing was trivial in legal and constitutional matters.

In an apparent atmosphere of division among the members that included Mr Tommy Amematekpor, an advisor to the President, Lt. Col. Charles Agbenaza (Rtd), MP for Ketu-South broke the deadlock when he called for a motion on the issue.

After two ballots Mr Cornelius Klutse, a teacher and immediate past presiding member of the assembly and Mr Vincent Kwawu, a Legal Practitioner and a government appointee failed to secure the two-thirds majority required.

The meeting was, therefore, adjourned for two weeks for fresh nominations to be filed