Yamoah Ponkoh rejected as Ejisu MCE

President John Mahama’s nominee as Municipal Chief Executive for Ejisu Juabeng Yamoah Ponkoh has been rejected by the assembly.

Forty-one assembly members voted against Ponkoh, who was a former MCE of the same area before being re-nominated late November 2015.

He managed to poll 25 votes in his favour but was not enough for him to pull through.

There was wild jubilation in Ejisu when news broke that the assembly has rejected the president’s nominee.

Per the Local Government Act he has two more chances to go before the assembly for consideration, and that will be done in 10 days.

Ponkoh told Accra-based Joy FM that he is unfazed by the outcome of the first round because “the next round a different story will be told. I’m reflecting on so many things. I don’t retreat. Not at all. Victory will be mine in the next round.”

An animated assembly member described Ponkoh as someone who “didn’t exhibit leadership style and acted as a dictator” during his previous tenure. “He is too confrontational.”

Ahead of today’s election, the Ejisu chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress in the Ashanti region, Eugene Agyarko, kicked against the re-appointment of Ponkoh.

According to him, any attempt to re-appoint Ponkoh will have dare consequences on the party in the upcoming 2016 general elections.

The NDC executives in July this year forced the MCE to leave his office after he refused to hand over when a letter to that effect had been sent to the Assembly by the Ministry of Local Government.

“He is not my favourite,” Agyarko said. “He made the party suffer when we gave him the mandate. I don’t want him to come again.”