Patrick Kwame Frimpong, Presiding Member of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), has drawn the attention of the Minister of Local Government to an anomaly with the intended District Assembly Elections in October this year.
According to the Presiding Member, the last elections were held on December 19, 2019, after which the Assembly was constituted and the members sworn into office in January 2020 for a four year term.
He contended that the four-year term, therefore, expires in January 2024 and that the proposed District Assembly Elections for October was premature and a little too early in advance of the expiration of the mandate.
The KMA Presiding Member has, therefore, appealed to the sector Minister and other major stakeholders, including the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), the Director of Electoral Services of the EC, the Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies, the President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), the Regional Director of the EC, and the media to address the issue in the name of fair play.
Mr. Frimpong, who is also the Assembly Member for Krofrom East Electoral Area in Kumasi, has also proposed an amendment to the effect that the Unit Committee members be renamed Electoral Area Committee members or Assistants, since the voters in an electoral area are mandated to vote in the Unit Committee Elections.
He further proposed that contestants for the Unit Committee Elections must be arranged in chronological order on the ballot papers, with their pictures alongside their names for easy identification and voting by the electorate.
He contended that the first five contestants with the highest votes are elected to take the positions instead of the existing process.
Mr. Frimpong noted that the proposals, if duly considered, would go a long way to ensure a fair and smooth electoral process to promote the growth of District Assembly Elections in the country.
