Wa Municipal Assembly fails to elect Presiding Member

Wa, Oct. 31, GNA - Members of Wa Municipal Assembly on Monday failed to elect a Presiding Member to steer its meetings, after two rounds of voting.

During the first ballot, conducted by officials of the Electoral Commission, Mr Iddrisu Adams, member for Kperisi Electoral Area polled 14 votes as against 10 by his opponent, Mr Ibrahim Seidu, assemblyman for Jonga Electoral Area.

The second round of voting recorded a similar trend as Mr Adams had 15 votes while Mr Seidu had nine votes.

The Assembly therefore, adjourned proceedings for another day to be fixed to elect a Presiding Member.

Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of Defence inaugurated the 25-member assembly on behalf of President John Agyekum Kufuor at a well-attended durbar at Wa.

He charged the assembly to work at generating income locally and viewed other sources of funds as supplementary, saying that could become successful if it became evident to the people that funds collected by the assembly were utilised for the benefit of their communities. President Kufuor urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies to enact bye-laws and devise effective means of enforcing environmental cleanliness.

He announced that discussions were currently going on with the Chief Justice to enhance justice delivery at the local level with the creation of special courts to facilitate prosecution of sanitation offenders.

Mr Mac Adams Banda, Wa Municipal Chief Executive, said maintenance of peace and security within the municipality due to chieftaincy and land disputes had affected finances of the assembly.