No assembly members at Nkoranza over DKM

Since victims of some investment companies’ scam invoked curses on the Electoral Commission (EC) and President John Mahama so that the former would not conduct the district assembly elections until their lost monies had been paid back to them, the Nkoranza North and South districts have been without substantive assembly members for two years now.

It will be recalled that DKM, Jester Motors and God Is Love Investment – all microfinance companies – collected huge sums of money from the people of Nkoranza and other districts in the Brong-Ahafo Region and promised them 50% interest on their (customers’) investments but failed to deliver. When matters came to a head, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) closed down the companies but failed to pay the investments made by the customers.

About a year ago, the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, visited Nkoranza to commission a new queen mother’s palace and when he was confronted with the issue, he denied having knowledge of it, neither was he aware that a curse had been invoked on the EC in both the Nkoranza South and North Districts.

At a press conference on September 13, 2016 at Nkoranza, the spokesperson for the thousands of victims of the scam, Nana Kantataba, said he was going to court to compel the EC to conduct the assembly elections for the two districts because they were operating illegally.

According to Nana Kantataba, he saw no reason why for the past two years the two district assemblies had not been functional, although the DCEs award contracts and prepare fee fixing resolutions. Quoting Chapter 20, Article 246, Clause 1 of the 1992 Constitution, Nana Kantataba stated clearly that “The District Assembly Elections shall be held every four years” and saw no reason why those of Nkoranza North and South had not been held.

In his view because there are no checks and balances at the two districts, there is the possibility that some corrupt practices may take place to the detriment of the development of the area. He seized the opportunity to appeal to the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to expedite action for the elections to take place.