The Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District Assembly in the Savannah Region on Friday, October 29, 2020, has again failed to elect a Presiding Member after five rounds of voting.
The candidates for the position, Nuhu Adams and Jorjile Bieljitey Emmanuel, both failed to secure the required votes to emerge as the new Presiding Member after voting by the 49 -member house.
When the Assembly was inaugurated on January 23, 2020, both candidates could not secure the needed two-thirds votes after two rounds of voting.
It was then postponed for another round of voting but neither candidate could garner the requisite votes after another round of voting to emerge as a Presiding Member.
As per the Standing Orders of the assembly, the two candidates have, therefore, been asked to step down for fresh candidates to be nominated and voted for .
Hon. Saaka Awusi Abudu, a Government appointee was the only candidate who filed for nomination at the open of fresh forms for different candidates.
The election conducted by the District Electoral Commission was therefore based on ” Yes and No” vote for the only candidate, Hon. Saaka Awusi Abudu.
At the end of the voting 19 members voted for Yes as 28 members voted in favour of No, meaning he couldn’t obtain the two- third score.
A second round of voting was held of which 14 members voted for Yes while 31 members voted in favour of No with 2 rejected ballots.
The District Electoral Commission led by Mr James Suuk, therefore, postponed the elections to another meeting after the only candidate Hon. Saaka Awusi Abudu failed to secure the two-third score after two consecutives rounds of voting.
The Assembly is composed of 49 members made up of 33 elected members, 15 government appointees and the Member of Parliament as an Ex- Officio member.
The District Chief Executive, Hon. Lawal Tamimu, in a welcome address pleaded with the Assembly Members to collaborate and choose a leader who would steer the affairs of the Assembly to facilitate development in the District.
He noted that the absence of a Presiding Member is affecting the Assembly’s decision making process and implementation of projects and programmes.
The failure of the members of the Assembly to elect a Presiding Member to preside over their meetings left many disappointed including the DCE, Hon. Lawal Tamimu.
The DCE expressed worry at the turn of events but was confident that a substantive Presiding Member would be elected at the next General Assembly meeting.
He entreated members of the assembly to avoid taking entrenched positions since that could affect the development agenda of the District.
“I am 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.
He called on the Assembly Members to be united for development of the District.
Source: Yagbon Radio
