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29 new members of Mion district assembly sworn in; PM election postponed

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Twenty elected assembly members of the Mion District Assembly were on Tuesday sworn  by the Yendi Circuit Court Judge, Williams Appiah Twumasi.

The members included 9 government appointees, two women and one representative from the community of persons living with disabilities. They were all appointed by the government. The 29 members will serve a four-year term.

Mion was one of 26 districts in the Northern Region that joined others across Ghana to inaugurate the 6th district assembly. Voters went to the polls on September 1, 2015 to elect their local representatives for the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana.

In his inaugural address, the District Chief Executive for Mion district, Dan Makandan charged the newly sworn in members to live up to the expectation of the electorate who had reposed confidence in them.

“For the duration of your four-year term, you are to serve your people and mother Ghana at the local government level in a way and manner that will let the people appreciate the fact that they are truly participating in the decision making process and governance of the entire nation” Hon. Makandan reminded members.

The assembly members major duties as stated in section 16(1) of the local government Act 1993, Act 462 among others enjoins members to maintain close contact with the electorate  and collect their views and proposals.
They are also urged to present the views, opinions and proposals of their electorates to the assembly.

The Mion DCE urged members to relegate their personal parochial interest to the background and put the nation and interest of the people first in discharging their duties.
“As new assembly members, I hope and wish that you come out with new strategies in collaboration with management to generate adequate revenue to complement the effort of the central government,” Hon. Makandan suggested.

He called for high level of cooperation between members and the DCE as well as other management staff in the discharge of their functions saying that the success of the assembly largely depends on effective cooperation.

Election of PM

But it was not all smooth sailing at the swearing in ceremony. The swearing in exercise which lasted for less than two hours was supposed to be preceded by the election of the Presiding Member (PM) who is the administrative head of the assembly. However, after several hours of bickering and acrimony over the 30% of government appointees, the exercise ended abruptly.

Even before the swearing in process begun, a member raised objection over the number of government appointees, but his objection was overruled by the circuit court judge. The judge told the member to wait after the swearing in to raise the issue.

Nine people were appointed instead of six as required by law. Some members described it as illegal and warn of possible consequences if they go ahead to constitute the house with the number.

The DCE could not understand the sudden change of minds by the same assembly members who allowed the house to be constituted with 28 members instead of 26 in the last assembly. He accused the then PM who is seeking reelection of bad faith when he superintended over it and because two others were contesting him the process was illegal this time around.

The Secretary of the assembly/Coordinating Director, Mr Iddrisu M. Morgan apologized to the Chiefs and people for keeping them waiting and explained that the house will find a special day for the election of PM.image

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