Suhum Municipal Assembly in the Eastern Region has finally elected a Presiding Member after a year of election gridlock.
Akrono Benjamin Orrison, a government appointee at the Assembly on Monday sailed through after securing the needed percentage in another dramatic election in the second round of voting.
The Suhum Municipal Assembly has failed to elect a Presiding Member after seven elections. This affected the smooth running of the assembly.
On Monday February 1, 2021 the assembly reorganized another election but after the first round of voting, none of the two new contenders – Kumi Wallace and Akrono Benjamin Orrison secured the required votes to emerge a winner.
This was after failed intervention by the Member of Parliament for Suhum, Oboafo Kwadwo Asante, and other gurus of the NPP in Suhum to convince Assembly members aligned to opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, who had taken an entrenched position not to vote for any candidate nominated by governing New Patriotic Party as Presiding Member.
The immediate former Member of Parliament for Suhum, Frederick Opare-Ansah, upon hearing the disappointing outcome of the election, rushed to the Assembly to hold talks with the NDC aligned Assembly members and managed to convince them to change their entrenched position for the sake of the development of Suhum.
Shortly after the intervention of Hon. Opare-Ansah, the second round of voting was held and supervised by the Electoral Commission which Akrono Benjamin Orrison secured 34 votes against Kumi Wallace who polled 8 votes to win the Presiding membership position.
This demonstrates the relevance of Opare Ansah in the local politics despite losing his bid to serve his fifth term in Parliament as his experience in politics and leadership skill played out significantly in the election of the presiding member.
Some of the Assembly Members told the media after the election,”We back-tracked our position because of how Hon. Opare-Ansah came to speak to us. In fact, he spoke to us very well and calmed down tempers because we were not happy with the disrespectful posture of the MCE”. -Hon. Amankwah Emmanuel -Assembly Member for Oforikrom said.
Another Assembly Member said “we voted for him because of the maturity and respect Hon. Opare-Ansah exhibited towards us. The reason why we have been voting against the NPP candidate for the past eight times is the fact that our MCE Margaret Darko, as a matter of fact doesn’t regard some of us(NDC caucus) in the Assembly. But for the intervention of Hon. Opare-Ansah we would have voted against the PM contender to demonstrate to the MCE that the power lies with us therefore we deserve respect. My expectation from the PM is to unify all and not follow the bad leadership style of the MCE”.
The Municipal Chief Executive for Suhum, Margaret Darko Darkwa, however, said, the stalemate which surrounded the election of the Presiding Member was unnecessary partisan politics and a waste of time by the NDC Assembly members. She was however hopeful that the assembly can now be run smoothly with the Presiding Member at post.
Frederick Opare-Ansah, later told the media that his intervention was for the progress of Suhum Municipality and for the successful implementation of life-changing policy interventions by the NPP government for the Assembly.
“I received a call from Akrono Orrison, the PM aspirant that after the first round of voting he didn’t get the requisite number, I took it upon myself to head there, listened to the concerns of the assembly members and assured them that their complaints will be addressed in due time and that, we should first and foremost put the interest of Suhuman above all grievances”.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com/Kojo Ansah
