Drama unfolded at the inauguration of the ninth edition of the Birim Central Municipal Assembly at Akyem Oda last Monday as only the 18 elected assembly members were sworn in while the nine government appointees were rejected at the ceremony.

A section of the population who were disappointed by the turn of events attributed the problem to the submission of two separate lists of nine government appointees by the Birim Central Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Victoria Adu, and the 17-member Oda Constitute Executive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Considering the confusion over the submission of the two separate lists of government appointees, the outgoing  Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, who performed the inaugural ceremony, rejected both lists and inaugurated the 18 elected assembly members.

The Oda District Magistrate, Her Worship Adeline Owusu Asante, also swore in the 18 elected assembly members, neglected the two separate lists of government appointees and left the scene.

In his inaugural address, Mr Amoako-Attah advised Ghanaians not to put pressure on assembly members to fund development projects as that did not form part of their mandate.

He said unlike Members of Parliament and MCEs who received salaries and were provided with common funds and other sources of funding, assembly members were neither paid nor given any funds to finance development projects.

Mr Amoako-Attah stressed that the work of assembly members was sacrificial.

Reaction 

Reacting to the non-swearing-in of the government appointees, the Oda constituency secretary of the NPP, Mr Ben Kuuku Baiden, denied that the MCE and the constituency executives submitted separate lists of government appointees.

He said both parties sent one list to the appropriate quarters but for no apparent reason, when the final list was received, some names had been removed and some also replaced hence the rejection.

Source: GraphicOnline