Blows At Assembly Election

Kwasi Oppong-Ababio, Sunyani MCE

THE SUNYANI Municipal Assembly elections to elect a Presiding Member (PM), for the fourth consecutive time, has ended in a deadlock following a free-for-all between a government appointee and some assembly members aligned to the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Several assembly members present at the meeting suffered minor injuries as they ran helter-skelter to avoid being brutalized by Mohammed Seidu aka Maha, a government appointee at the assembly who doubles as the NDC Regional Organiser.

Maha was reported to have called a section of the assembly members, believed to be sympathizers of the NDC, outside the assembly hall after his candidate, Lawyer Otu Essel, failed to retain his position as the PM after four fruitless attempts since the assembly was inaugurated early this year.

Reports said Maha, after calling the affected assembly members outside, asked them why they voted against his man.

And before they could say Jack, the NDC man had dragged a big stick to whip them. In the process, there was a pandemonium as everybody started running to avoid being assaulted, a situation which caused some assembly members including, Beatrice Prempeh, a retired educationist and a government appointee, to sustain some bruises.

The Electoral Commission officials who were supervising the polls had to flee for safety, thereby ending the elections abruptly.

The first round of voting saw Senyo Agbedra, a staff of the Sunyani Regional Hospital and the preferred candidate, polling 33 votes, while Lawyer Otu Essel polled 17 out of 50 votes cast.

The only NPP sympathizer had earlier withdrawn from the race.

It is not clear when a new date will be fixed to elect a new PM for the assembly.

The absence of a PM in the assembly is seriously affecting government business because the assembly cannot convey meetings to approve new budgets and projects.

Meanwhile, Maha has denied ever engaging in any brawl with any assembly member.

He told DAILY GUIDE that he had no story to tell because the incident did not happen.

He only referred the paper to the Coordinating Director for any briefing.

From Fred Tettey Alarti-Amoako, Sunyani