General News of Saturday, 15 July 2017

Source: 3news.com

Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo DCE nominee rejected again

John Kofi Alhassan John Kofi Alhassan

The president’s nominee for District Chief Executive for the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo, John Kofi Alhassan has been rejected for the second time by assembly members and government appointees.

The massive rejection comes after an almost two-hour process in Bunkpurugu on Friday July, 13, 2017 intended to confirm his nomination. Popularly known as J.K, the former assembly member for the Namong electoral area and parliamentary aspirant for the New Patriotic Party in the 2012 primary of the New Patriotic Party failed to win 2/3 of the total votes cast.

The nominee managed eighteen (18) out of the total forty eight (48) votes cast representing thirty seven per cent(37%) a mark below the required percentage to be confirmed as the substantive District Chief Executive.

He needs two-thirds of the votes cast to be confirmed as the District Chief Executive. J.K on May 12, 2017 polled seventeen(17) out of the of thirty five (35) votes cast as some assembly members were absent.

It appears assembly members would not be moved by the pleas of the Northern Regional Minister Salifu Saeed, who currently is the acting District Chief Executive of the district and his counterpart Solomon Boar, also the Member of Parliament for the area after a closed door meeting, which an insider told 3news.com that all members assured them of their support to confirm the DCE nominee by doing the “right thing”. Perhaps, to the assembly members and government appointees, who voted NO, representing 62.5% was the right thing as they were encouraged by the minister and MP to do the right thing.

Disclosing what amounted to the second rejection, an assembly member who wants to remained anonymous stated, “I just did the right thing as asked by our leaders, may be to them, voting for the nominee is the right thing but to us, it will be the biggest mistake ever made. I personally have no grudges with him but it’s about the larger interest and not mine”.

It was obvious the Northern Regional Minister Salifu Saeed left the place disappointed as he was unable to hand over the position he has acted since February 2017.