THE CHIEF Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and members of the assembly have once again smoked the peace pipe after a section of the House agitated for the removal of the boss, Mr. Maxwell Jumah.
The truce comes on the heels of a timely intervention of key officials of the government last week.
The sector Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, the Chief of Staff, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, and the Regional Minister, Hon. S. K. Boafo, called for an end to hostilities between the two "warring" factions. It was agreed between the two sides that there was no truth in accusations and counter-accusations traded in by the two sides.
Henceforth, the MCE and the assembly will have to work as a team for the general development of Kumasi, having buried their differences to the said meeting.
But for the intervention, the assembly members had set out about 12 conditions for the consideration of Jumah, if they had to compromise their stand and co-exist with the MCE.
Among others, the assembly members called for a review of the fee-fixing resolution and the suspension of the discussion on the proposed budget, while a provisional budget is put in place to enable the assembly function well.
As a condition for resolution of the impasse, the assembly is to insist on implementation of Section 11 of Act 462, which empowers the assembly to prepare and approve its own budget to the letter.
In response to a condition set by the aggrieved assembly members, it was resolved that the assembly should suspend its fee-fixing resolution for a review, while the MCE and the assembly work in harmony and within the framework of the laws of the local government system.
All projects approved and executed by the assembly must stand in the name of the general assembly and that on no account should the MCE take singular credit for such projects.
It was, however, prevailed upon them to desist from resorting to the press to cause unnecessary attacks on each other.
The team of mediators also appealed to FM radio stations to discourage talkshows that go to refuel the impasse.
The Chronicle has gathered the Chief Executive Jumah has responded to the 25 charges levelled against him for the attention of Hon. Baah-Wiredu, the sector minister.
Meanwhile, the KMA of the assembly in response to terms of resolution of the impasse, last Friday, June 21, approved of the 2002 budget for consideration by the general assembly.
The Finance and Administration sub-committee, the Chronicle learnt, had to sit on this budget 14 times, while the authority also deliberated on it 10 times before its approval last Friday.
Chronicle sources close to the meeting indicated that the budgetary allocation to the sub-metro council was increased by ?100 million.
Allowances paid to members for sitting on committees cost the KMA an average of ?40 million a month.
Each of the 86 members takes home about ?500,000 plus as sitting allowance every other month.