The Wa East District Assembly in the Upper West Region on Monday failed to elect a new Presiding Member after two rounds of voting.
In the first round of the polls, Hon. Nbenaba Timothy the assembly member for Kundugu electoral area garnered 24 votes out of the 37 votes cast while hon. Torron Amoah assembly member for Yaala electoral area secured 12 votes with one rejected vote.
During the second round of voting, Hon. Nbenaba Timothy pulled 25 votes while his contender had 12 votes.
By this, neither of the two candidates secured the two-third mandate to be elected.
The Wa East district, electoral officer said since none had gotten the required number, it called for another polls within ten days.
As per the Standing Orders of the assembly, the two candidates have the chance to contest for the third time. If none fail to secure the two third they will therefore be asked to step down for fresh candidates to be nominated and voted for.
Hon. Nbenaba Timothy, a contestant, urged his colleagues to vote for him to help move the assembly forward because development was a shared responsibility.
Mr. Torron Amoah who is also a contestant believes that the inadequate developmental projects in the 19 year old Wa East district were because of bad leadership, adding that he can change the dynamism of the district if he is voted for as presiding member.
The District Chief Executive for Wa East, hon. Ewura Mahama Kandie entreated members of the assembly to avoid taking entrenched positions since that could affect the development agenda of the district.
“Generally I feel demoralize and not disappointed at the turn of events today because a lot of consultations were held with all the stakeholders before today’s meeting to enable us to elect a substantive presiding member for the assembly,” he said.
The DCE observed that the inability of the assembly to elect a PM was likely to affect the smooth running of the assembly. he explained that, a PM is responsible for convening meetings to address certain pertinent issues that might affect the progress of the assembly hence his absence will create a vacuum”.
However he is optimistic that when they return in ten days time the assembly will be able to elect a new presiding member.
