Members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) have confirmed Samuel Pyne as Mayor for the Metropolis following his victory in the Tuesday polls held at the Prempeh Assembly Hall.
Fifty-eight out of the 60 expected assembly members were present to cast their ballot. The Ashanti regional Secretary of the ruling party secured 55 Yes votes to clinch victory. The other three members voted against him.
Also, the President’s nominee for the Asokore-Mampong Municipal assembly Kennedy Kankam has also been confirmed by the Assembly members for the area.
Meanwhile, the DCE nominees for the Adaklu District and Agotime-Ziope Districts in the Volta region, have been rejected by members of their respective Assemblies during a confirmation exercise held on Monday.
The two nominees, Phanuel Kadey Donkor for Adaklu and Emelia Emefa Adziamah for the Agotime-Ziope District failed to secure the 2/3 majority threshold needed to have them confirmed as the District Chief Executive for their respective Districts.
President Nana Akufo-Addo yesterday urged members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly to stop blackmailing his nominee for the position of Metropolitan Chief Executive, Sam Pyne, and approve him.
The members had decided not to approve Mr Pyne until the government pays off a GHS50 million debt the Assembly owes.
According to the Assembly Members, the indebtedness has significantly contributed to the underdevelopment of Kumasi.
But President Akufo Addo stated that the position taken by the assembly is wrong.
“I don’t understand the connection, is he the one who incurred the debt? If he were to be the one who caused the debt then I can then agree with the position of the assembly members but that’s not the case. Is he going to be a victim of the past? I don’t think that is fair. I appeal to the assembly members to look at his competence and approve him to start working.
“I’ve asked the Local Government Minister to look into the issue of the debt and give me a proper brief of how come the debt. Because we’ve seen on many occasions that so-called debt, upon investigations, the figures don’t add up, we’ve seen it in many areas of national life – Energy sector, Rail, many others.
President Akufo-Addo added: “I don’t see how…and that they are going to hold up Kumasi getting a proper Chief Executive because of the past? I don’t think that is fair. It appears to be blackmail. That is not the way to go about it. I think what they need to get from him when he appears before them right from the beginning is to get the commitment to deal with it, that will be the proper way to go. If they feel he’s worthy of confirmation, let him make it clear to them that when he’s approved the number one item on the agenda is that he’ll look into the debt and work together with the government to clear it.â€