Petition to His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo to revoke the approval of Mr Samuel Addai Agyekum as DCE for Kumawu Sekyere District

Dear Your Excellency the President,

I, Rockson Adofo, a native of Kumawu in the Kumawu Sekyere District in Ashanti region, has felt the urgent need today, Wednesday, 3rd November 2021, to petition you about the developments in regard to the recent three-time voting to approve your nominee, Mr Samuel Addai Agyekum, for the post of District Chief Executive (DCE) for the Kumawu Sekyere District.

I have been well informed that His Excellency the President by applicable law in relation to appointing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, can present his same nominee to the assembly members of the respective metropolis, municipality or district, a third time should they fail to get approved in the first and second time rounds of voting.

The president must by right conferred on him, nominate a new person if his first nominee does not get approved at the third time voting.

A nominee must get two-thirds (2/3), thus, 66.67% of the valid votes cast by the assembly members present, to be approved as the Metropolitan/Municipal/District Chief Executive. And, the president, by right bestowed on him, must always appoint 30% of the assembly members while the remaining 70% membership is elected by the citizens of the district through their exercise of universal suffrage.

The voting to confirm the president’s nominees must be conducted in most transparent, credible, acceptable and permissible manner in accordance with the prevailing electoral laws and regulations of the country without the president or the Electoral Commission ever advising differently in breach of the law when the process of voting is already in motion.

For the attention of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the nominee for the Kumawu Sekyere District, the incumbent DCE, Mr Samuel Addai Agyekum, lost his confirmation vote during both the 1st and 2nd rounds of voting as had been programmed.

On Tuesday 5th October 2021, out of the 36 assembly members convened for the voting, he pulled 22 “Yes” votes in his favour while 14 members voted “No” against him. This meant his rejection for failing to meet the legal two-thirds (2/3) threshold requirement for approval.

Again, on Thursday, 7th October 2021, when the second time voting took place, he lost it; although he managed to improve upon his score of the first time by garnering 23 “Yes” votes to his favour and 13 “No” votes against him. This time too, he could not meet the minimum winning threshold of two-thirds of the valid votes cast. He lost by one vote.

Therefore, he was left with the chance of a third time, the last of course, if the president would still present him as his favourite nominee; which indeed the president did.

Could it be said to be the proverbial “third time lucky” in favour of Mr Samuel Addai Agyekum? We shall see shortly.

Just a day after the first voting, thus on Wednesday, 6th October 2021, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Simon Osei Mensah, in exercising some presidential powers somehow delegated to him by yet to known source, acted as following.

1. He withdrew four of the government appointees on the Kumawu Sekyere District assembly on Wednesday, 6th October 2021.

2. He replaced the withdrawn four members by other four on same day, thus, Wednesday, 6th October 2021.

3. He had the four newly-appointed ones sworn in on the same day, thus, Wednesday, 6th October 2021.

Find below the documentary evidence attesting to my assertions above.

From a more knowledgeable opinion sought, yes, the president by right can withdraw any of his appointees on the Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies at any day any time without giving them prior notice or explanation for his action. He can equally in same swift manner appoint replacement members who can exercise their roles as soon as they are sworn into office with the Oaths of Office, Allegiance and Secrecy, by a court judge or an official vested with that authority by law.

One may become suspicious about the motive behind the withdrawal and replacement of the officers, basing their argument on the timing of the whole exercise. Had the Ashanti Regional Minister not suspected those withdrawn Government appointees to have voted against Samuel Addai Agyekum, therefore, he had better replace them with people who could vote for him in the second round voting scheduled for Thursday, 7th October 2021, to facilitate his chances of emerging victorious, thus get approved?

Nevertheless, as long as his action is permissible, acceptable and credible by the relevant constitutional law, Act of Parliament and or Local Government Act, I will not question his motive, whether good or bad, but to leave it to him and his conscience.

Now, the reasons for my petition to Your Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, are the following.

1. “Elections to the district assemblies are conducted by secret ballot using the first-past-the-post system”. However, the confirmation election for the president’s nominee for the District Chief Executive position is by getting two-thirds of the valid votes cast by the elected assembly members, through same secret ballot. Nevertheless, on the third time voting that took place on Friday, 15th October 2021, information I have gathered indicates that each invited assembly member casting their vote had to openly show their ballot or sheet to all those present in the room to confirm whether they had voted “YES” or “NO” for or against Samuel Addai Agyekum.

2. “Seventy per cent of members of the assembly are elected by universal adult suffrage, whilst 30% are appointed by the president on the basis of their experience and specialised expertise. Members of Parliament (MP) representing constituencies in each district are ex-officio members of the assembly by virtue of their position”. Therefore, they are always invited and or, have the right, to attend all assembly members meeting in their respective districts, time and circumstances permitting. However, the MP for Kumawu Constituency in the Kumawu Sekyere District, Philip Basoah (Hon), was prevented from entering the church hall or the venue at Bomeng where the voting was taking place on the Friday, 15th October 2021. I understand, whether true or false, that one of the police officers threatened to shoot him should he dare force his way into the hall. Check the video below.

Why should he be refused entry into the venue? Could it be down to “an order from above” to resist him from participating in an exercise of which the constitution, relevant Act of Parliament, Act of Local Government or Constitutional Instrument (CI) by the Electoral Commission legally allows him to?

Does Your Excellency the President, see what happened to the MP amid alleged threats to shoot him by one of the police officers that had mounted guard there as normal and in conformity with the laws of the land and the human rights principles you so personally hold dearly?

3. The venue for the voting on Friday, 15th October 2021, was hidden from many of the assembly members who were eligible to vote. This is ascertained from the attached audio. Why should the venue be hidden from the public, let alone, some qualified-to-vote assembly members? Does this fact not raise suspicion about the intentions of the organisers of the election and those assembly members that participated in the voting on Friday, 15th October 2021?

I quite remember how Your Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, His Excellency the Vice President, Dr Alhaji Muhammudu Bawumia and the late NPP National Chairman, Mr Obetsebi Lamptey, were unhappy about the Dr Afari Gyan’s Electoral Commission creating extra polling stations that were hidden from the NPP, although voting did take place at those stations but without the participation of NPP because NPP never knew about their existence. I think you did raise this as one of your reasons for challenging Election 2012 results at the Supreme Court. If yes, why should the venue of voting to confirm or reject your nominee for the post of DCE be hidden from some elected assembly members as confirmed by the audio, and the vote accepted as credible?

The bible says in Matthew 7:12 – “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets”. If you were not happy, Your Excellency the President, about certain illegalities, malpractices and bullying that cost you Election 2012, why would you permit same to happen to the citizens of Kumawu Sekyere District, from the look of all that took place, some of which I have been able to provide you with evidence in this petition?

4. The presence of heavily armed police and military personnel at the venue, gives cause for concern to many a discerning Ghanaian. Even during any general election where many eligible registered voters go to cast their vote, there is usually only one security personnel, soldier or police, at the polling station. Why is it that there were many heavily armed police and military personnel at the church vicinity at Bomeng where only a few assembly members were going to vote to confirm or reject your nominee DCE for the Kumawu Sekyere District? Was there any war or any intelligence as to there going to be a war or riot hence deploying that level of heavily armed security personnel to the scene to forestall the war or riot?

The heavily armed police and military personnel presence there in my estimation, boded evil for those on intent to vote against the president’s nominee. Other than that, how do you explain or justify their presence, Your Excellency the President?

5. The Asante Effiduase Divisional Police Commander and another from Kumasi were in charge of the operation that went on that fateful day. Why was the Kumawu District Police Commander sidelined?

6. The police arrested one Mr Paul Krapa aka Koo Moshie, an NPP member from Kumawu who went to Bomeng when he heard that the voting would take place there. This harmless individual, exercising his civic right, was finally taken to the Effiduase divisional police headquarters. He has been asked to report to them once or twice a week before the police decide what to do with him. I am rightly informed that when he was taken into the police van at Bomeng on that Friday, 15th October 2021, he was shown the pictures of some people, mentioned to him some names and was asked if he knew them? He answered in the affirmative. He was told they would beat and arrest any of those persons if found at Bomeng as per an “order from above” to them.

If the above information is true as I have been told, why were the police and military looking for those people, and how did they come by their names and pictures?

7. I understand not all the 28 assembly members who voted on Friday, 15th October 2021, to confirm through approval the president’s nominee, Samuel Addai Agyekum, as District Chief Executive (DCE), were from Kumawu Sekyere District. Some were strangers from elsewhere. I am bound to believe it owing to how some elected and eligible assemble members were prevented from accessing the church hall where the voting took place.

It is said, “If the government becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites everyman to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy”. No wonder that some people have resorted to curses by invoking the river gods and goddesses in their attempts to right the wrongs so committed on the said Friday, 15th October 2021.

The foregoing reasons and questions clearly indicate to me that the government of Your Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has broken the law in regard to the execution of democratic processes of voting to confirm your nominee DCE, Samuel Addai Agyekum. The available evidence clearly shows that the voting was not fair, if all the information I have, and subsequently hereby divulged, are nothing but the truth.

Could Your Excellency the President please cause investigations into all the factually established and or, alleged, malpractices that took place during the voting to confirm Samuel Addai Agyekum as the DCE for Kumawu Sekyere District on Friday, 15th October 2021? Such breaches of the law, the military and police intimidations and harassments of innocent citizens, should not have any place in Your Excellency the President’s administration, or happen under your watch. For if they do happen, and are not immediately corrected, it will leave an indelible blot on your image and legacy to obliterate your hard won reputation of incorruptibility, human rights activist and a person selflessly dedicated to the service of his people and country.

Your Excellency the President, while I have arranged to get this petition directly to you via Mr Eugene Arhin, your Director of Communications at the Office of the President of Ghana, I shall equally cause it to be published online and by any interested media outlet. Some organizations, both national and international, will be made aware of this petition if deemed appropriate.

I look for to see Your Excellency the President, take the necessary steps to redress the situation, order for another voting devoid of malpractices to take place and to get that innocent Paul Krapa out of the grips of the police.

Yours Sincerely,

Rockson Adofo

Wednesday, 3^rd November 2021