Ellembelle District Assembly fails to elect presiding member after three attempts

The Ellembelle District Assembly in Western Region has yet again failed to elect a Presiding Member (PM) to preside over its meetings after three conservative attempts.

Fifty (50) out of the fifty-three (53) members of the Assembly were present to take part in the voting exercise where Mr. Samuel Asmah polled 18 votes as against 25 votes and 7 rejected on Thursday, January 30, 2020 at Nkroful.

Mr. Samuel Asmah who is a Government Appointee of the Assembly on Thursday, January 23, 2020, after two rounds, failed to secure the two-thirds majority of the total votes cast.

He contested as a sole candidate.

At the end of the first round, some 23 Assembly Members voted for him, 27 Members voted no against him and one Member spoiled his or her ballot.

Mr. Asmah managed to get 25 votes after the second round, 25 members voted No and one was rejected.

Upon sober reflection, Mr. Asmah failed to contest again for the fourth attempts. His dream to become a Presiding Member for Ellembelle District Assembly did not see the light of the day.

The disappointed Samuel Asmah was given the opportunity to address the gathering after the elections but failed to address them.

Before the election of the Presiding Member on Thursday, January 30, 2020, the Assembly sworn-in the NPP Constituency Chairman, Samuel Akainyah who rejected the offer given to him during inaugural ceremony of the Assembly, and two Government Appointees were revoked and replaced them by the NPP Constituency Secretary, John Nwolley and Ike Polley, the NPP Constituency Researcher.

The District Chief Executive for the area, however, announced to the Members that he was going to appoint one Assembly Member to be a Member-Appointee to act as a Presiding Member.

It would be recalled that in 2015, the Assembly failed to elect a Presiding Member after 16 attempts where all the candidates were rejected until after seventeen attempts before they could elect Mr. Joseph Cudjoe as their Presiding Member.

Speaking to some people in the area, they said they would not be surprised if there is a repeat of events as it happened in 2015.

They said it was a total embarrassment for the Assembly not to elect its Presiding Member after three conservative times.

They added that when you come to Nzemaland which has three District Assemblies, Ellembelle is the only District without a Presiding Member.

They, therefore, seized the opportunity to appeal to the Assembly Members to emulate Jomoro Assembly and Nzema East Assembly by electing a Presiding Member in their next meeting.

The meeting of the Assembly has been adjourned indefinitely.