Bongo District Assembly in the Upper East Region now has a Presiding Member (PM), Mr Duke Awinsune Anabah. Mr Anabah polled 36 votes out of the 54, thus obtaining the mandatory two-thirds of the total number of the assembly members as stipulated by Article 244 (1) of the 1992 Constitution.
His closest contender, Mr Andrews Adendaa Nsobila from the Namoo Electoral Area, managed 18 votes to bring the search for a PM of the assembly to an end.
Article 244 (1)
Article 244 (1) of the 1992 Constitution states: “The District Assembly shall have a Presiding Member who shall be elected by the assembly from among its members. The Presiding Member shall be elected by at least two-thirds majority of all the assembly members.”
Voting
On March 24, 2017, the assembly members of the district met to elect a PM but failed to do so because none of the three contenders could obtain the mandatory two-thirds votes, Messrs Akansake of the Awaa Electoral Area, Nsobila from Namoon Electoral Area and Anabah, could obtain the mandatory two-thirds votes polled 14, 15 and 21 votes respectively.
The winner was expected to garner 36 votes out of 54.
Ahead of the second round of voting, Mr Akansake stepped down to pave the way for Mr Anabah and Mr Nsobila to face each other, but that still could not help matters as Mr Nsobila polled 24 votes, while Mr Anabah had 27 votes.
Confirmation
Confirming his election as the PM for the assembly in an interview in Accra, Mr Anabah thanked the assembly members for electing him and urged them to close their ranks for the development of the district.
He commended his contenders for the stiff competition and said it was the district that won the election and not him, adding that it was also an indication of a matured democracy.
Moving forward
Mr Anabah said now that the election was over, the focus should be on moving the district forward, “and that can only be possible if all of us put our shoulders to the wheel.”
He said the district was lagging behind in a number of areas and the only way to move it at par with other districts was all assembly members to be committed to ensuring that all development projects received the support of members.
In a related development, Mr Anabah said the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bongo, Mr Peter Ayinbisa, was also confirmed the same day by the assembly.
Mr Anabah said with the confirmation of the DCE, the assembly was set to take off.
