You can't make KMA ungovernable - Ackon warns

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. John Alexander Ackon, has said that the law will not allow anyone to run the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly KMA, the way he/she wants.

He said “when it is realized that the assembly is being made ungovernable, there is a cure.”

The KMA was for the fourth time unable to elect a presiding member to stir its affairs on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 but the minister believes the assembly should easily be able to “organize a meeting and get a member presiding.”

The Minister who was speaking on the May 18, 2016 edition of Daybreak Kapital further explained that given the important role of the Presiding Member in the administration of Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), the failure of the assembly members to elect a Presiding Member for the KMA has taken a huge toll on the development prospects of Kumasi.

He was however quick to add that efforts are being made to resolve the impasse once and for all.

“We are getting the Act 462 to make sure that purposefully the power gets to the people; people should feel being part of the governance, and if we deny them that, we are actually not governing our people. And it is a matter of concern for people who want to practice decentralization”.

“We are supposed to serve the people and nobody should take us to ransom in that regard and forget the total involvement of the assembly members to understand that it does Kumasi no good when we go through such process” he added.

Hon John Alexander Ackon indicated his readiness and openness to proposals for changes in the local government structure and other interventions to help get a presiding member elected to serve the interest of the people of Kumasi.

“On the call for the introduction of the simple majority formula, I think it will be easier to elect Presiding Member and get the assembly working if we do that. Some are also saying that both parties should stand down for the process to restart. It should take the assembly members to decide unanimously that both contestants should step down. The assembly members should do us a favour by being proactive in that regard”.