Wa West Assembly rejects President's nominee

Wechiau (UW), July 13, GNA - The Wa West District Assembly for the second time, failed to endorse Mr. Daniel Dari, the President's nominee for District Chief Executive under controversial circumstances at its second emergency meeting convened for that purpose at Wechiau on Wednesday. He polled 15 out of the 23 votes cast at the ballot, which gave rise to a disagreement over what figure constituted two-thirds of 23 after Mr Alex Poku-Akubia, the Deputy Regional Electoral Officer declared the result.

With 15 votes, some observers were of the view that the nominee had secured the required figure needed for confirmation. However, Mr Poku-Akubia, who supervised the voting with a team of local officials of the Electoral Commission, explained that the nominee needed 66.7 per cent of the votes to sail through. He said 15 votes represented 65.2 per cent and therefore, he could not be confirmed, although according to him the EC usually deals with absolute figures.

Mr. Dari had 13 out of the 23 votes cast during the first ballot conducted on July 7. Mr. Ambrose Dery, the Upper West Regional Minister said, although the result had been declared, the issue of what figure constituted two-thirds of 23 votes, needed to be determined further and if possible through due process. In his estimation, 15 and 16 votes represented two-thirds of 23 and 24 respectively. He, however, appealed to the Assembly not to allow the ballot to divide the assembly and create animosity within their ranks. "Diversity should not breed animosity," he said.

Alhaji Issahaku Hassan, the Presiding Member said the views of the assembly members should be respected because they could represent the over-all wishes of their constituents. He said the non-approval of the President's nominee was a serious setback for the assembly but that could never take away their full support for the President and his government.