Court injunction blocked Fanteakwa DCE's election

Begoro (ER), Aug. 19, GNA- The scheduled voting to confirm Mr Ebenezer Ofoe Ceaser as the District Chief Executive (DCE)for Fanteakwa on Friday had to be postponed indefinitely following a court injunction filed at a Koforidua High Court against his nomination by the President. This was made known to the Assembly members at the aborted meeting of the Assembly at Begoro by the Presiding Member, Nana Boadu, when he read the writ to them.

He said it was one Daniel Obeng Asihene of Begoro who filed the writ asking the court to restrain the Assembly members from deciding fate of the acting DCE.

The writ, he said, also restrained the District Electoral Commission from organizing any election for the confirmation or otherwise of Mr Ofoe Ceaser as DCE for Fanteakwa.

A mob, which had thronged the District Assembly premises allegedly to cause havoc were the Assembly members to flout the court's orders were disappointed when the members peacefully adhered to the court's injunction soon after it was read to them.

A cross-section of the Assembly members interviewed by the Ghana News Agency, said they were disappointed at the court's injunction, saying that since the DCE had contributed to the development of the district for the past four years, there was no reason why he should not be allowed to continue as DCE.

Some of them complained that further delays in electing a DCE for the district could retard the development of the area. Mr Ofoe Ceaser declined to comment on the issue when contacted by the Ghana News Agency, saying that he would only talk after consultation with the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Yaw Barimah.

In another development, a section of the youth of the New Patriotic Party in Begoro have kept a van belonging to the party at the local police station having seized it from another group which they claimed to have used it to canvass for Mr Ofoe Ceaser's confirmation.

Mr Ofoe Ceaser's nomination process had been fraught with several problems, especially from the Mumuadu area of the Fanteakwa traditional area which has laid claim to the second most prominent political bastion in the district.

In a series of petitions to the Presidency, they stated that the political positions in the district should be shared among the three main ethnic groups in the district namely the Begoroman, Mumuadu and the Krobos.

Some petitions sent through the media to the Presidency claimed, among others that, since two Begoro men now hold the Member of Parliament and Presiding Member portfolios, and a Krobo, in the person of Mr Ofoe Ceaser having held the DCE post, it should now be the turn of a Mumuadu man to be offered a position.

However, the Presidency had refused to be persuaded by this argument since after the petitions and press conferences, it re-nominated Mr Ofoe Ceaser once more for the consideration of the Assembly as DCE.

In one petition dated August 12, 2005 and signed by four personalities including one Osae Ofosu Appiah on behalf of the chiefs and NPP Patrons of Fanteakwa, it noted with regret the re-nomination of Mr Ofoe Ceaser.

This, the petition claimed, occurred after an assurance received at the Castle, that Mr Ofoe Ceaser will not be re-appointed.