Tema, Nov. 07, GNA -- After nine rounds of voting in four sittings, the 80-member Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) on Tuesday elected a 71 year old livestock farmer, Mr Seth Laryea Tetteh as its Presiding Member (PM) for a two-year term.

Mr Tetteh, a government appointee however, did not have the nod on a silver platter as his contestant, Mr Ibrahim Baidoo, alias Bronze had to step down for him to take the seat.

Out of the 77 ballots cast, 69 voted in favour of Mr Tetteh, eight against, while three were absent. The assembly's standing order required that a contestant get either two-thirds or 53 votes for him or her to become a winner.

Mr Tetteh, a one time Member of Parliament for Tema in Dr Hilla Limman's government was accordingly sworn into office by the Supervising High Court Judge for Tema, Mr. Justice Francis Korbieh. Just before the election was about to begin, Mr Hopeson Adorye, member for Oyibi electoral area pleaded with Mr Baidoo to step down for Mr Tetteh to enable proceedings of the assembly begin smoothly. His motion was supported by majority of the members so the House was allowed five minutes of consultation after which Mr Baidoo returned and conceded to sacrifice going through the voting to allow Mr Tetteh to take the post of the PM.

He made it clear that he took the bold decision to enable the work of the assembly to proceed for the progress of the municipality. Accepting the post, Mr Tetteh expressed gratitude to Mr Baidoo for sacrificing the competition for him and equally urged members of the House to bury their differences, unite and forge ahead with a common purpose to move the municipality forward.

He promised to run an open door administration to work selflessly and diligently in the interest of the electorate. Initially, during the third round of voting in the first sitting, two other contestants, Mrs Gladys Naadu Tetteh, member for Sutsrunaa electoral area and Mr Kingsley Kwame Appiah for Ottanor electoral area stood down for Mr Tetteh and Mr Baidoo.