Obuasi municipal assembly elects presiding member

Honorable Joseph Festus Addai has been elected as the Presiding Member for the Obuasi Municipal Assembly after several failed attempts .ACT 462 Section 17 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana mandates District Assemblies in a two-third majority, to elect a Presiding member from the list of Assembly members.

The presiding member election for the municipality had to be postponed to Friday,16th October,2015 after two rounds of recording a stalement between Honorable Joseph Festus Addai, a Government appointee and Honorable Faustina Amissah, the Assembly member for Ahansonyewodea electoral area.

Addressing Assembly members moments before the election at the Urban Council Office of the Municipal Assembly, Honorable Richard Ofori Agyeman Boadi said it was urgent for members to elect a Presiding member who will have an immediate task of overseeing the Budget Implementing process.

He advised Assembly members to place the interest of the Assembly above other considerations in electing the Presiding member for the Assembly. Again, Honorable Ofori Agyeman re-echoed his concerns about the strict adherence to ‘Local content’ by the management of the anticipated merger between AngloGold Ashanti (A.G.A) and Rangold in the area of employment. He advocated for the employment of qualified indigenes by the Mining giants on electoral area basis. This, he said would be the panacea to the employment challenges facing the municipality.

After three failed attempts to elect a presiding member, Honorable Faustina Amissah stepped down and threw her weight behind Hon J. F. K Addai. Based on popular acclamation, Hon. Joseph Festus Addai was elected the Presiding member of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly.

In his acceptance speech, Honorable Joseph Festus Addai, an Electrical Engineer and a former employee of Anglogold Ashanti thanked Hon. Faustina Amissah for her courage to step down and felicitated his colleague Assembly Members for their appreciation of the democratic process.

He assured members of fairness and said the Presiding member’s office which has not be opened for some time now, would be opened for the purposes of proper administration.

Chiefs, Assembly members, the Clergy, Staff of the Municipal Assembly and the Media were all in attendance.

…………SIGNED………

(SAMPSON MANU)

MUNICIPAL INFORMATION OFFICER OBUASI