Assembly Members in the Upper West Akyem District of the Eastern Region failed to elect Presiding Member for the Assembly in the second attempt and the two Candidates who contested have been disqualified per the Local Government Acts.
The Assembly Members on 23rd February failed to elect the Presiding Member in the runoff because none of the two candidates obtained two-thirds of the total vote cast.
Candidates who were on the race are Mr. Samuel Atitiso Sikayena , Assembly Member for Roman Ridge Electoral Area and Constituency Secretary for the NDC and Eric Kwasi Mensah, the immediate past Presiding Member who was seeking re-election and also a strong member of the NPP.
The two candidates, who had the chance once again to be elected, were rejected by Assembly Members in Runoff. Aticho had 16 votes against 23 votes for Kwasi Mensah in the first run.
The election went second run because none of the candidates obtain two-thirds of the total vote cast. In the second run, Aticho pulled 17 votes against 21 for Kwasi Mensah.
The District Coordinating Director, Mr. Aron Otu, however, adjourned sitting, but the candidates cannot contest again per the local government acts.
The total number of Assembly Members is 39 which included 26 Elected and 13 Government Appointees.
Despite non-partisanship of Local Government, the investigation revealed that the NDC has 18 elected members and NPP also has 8 members together with 13 Appointees.
Source: Kofi Atakora
