Tema Metropolitan Assembly fails to elect a Presiding Member

The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) has failed to elect a Presiding Member (PM) because none of the three contestants secured the mandatory two-thirds majority votes of the members.

The Election, which took place on Tuesday at the TMA General Assembly Hall, saw all three candidates, Mr. Patrick Lawer, Mr Kwasi Poku and Mr Joseph Koto securing 21, 14 and 12 votes respectively but 32 votes were required make one the Presiding Member of the Assembly.

Responding to the outcome of the vote, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Mr. Felix Mensah Nii Annan-La, observed that the closeness of the results was such that breaking for an hour and reconvening for another election would not have helped any of the candidates.

“So we decided that the voting should be postponed for ten days. Even though it was not the best but we are sure things would work out within the ten-day period,” he informed.

He observed that the postponement would not cause any problem even though the tenure of the current PM was due to have ended on day of the voting, adding that “the Assembly was still in session and the current PM would preside.”

He assured the residents of Tema that a new PM would soon be elected.