Garu-Tempane District Assembly fails to elect PM

The Garu-Tempane District Assembly at its General Assembly Meeting   failed to elect a Presiding Member (PM) for the Assembly, on Friday.

The election, which went into a second round still failed to secure the two -thirds of votes needed by the candidates to be elected as PM, as stipulated by local government Act 462.

In the first round Mr. Edward Dahamani, the incumbent polled 21 votes, representing 48.8 per cent whilst Mr Cletus Azabe, his challenger, got 18 votes, representing 41.3 per cent.

In the second round the incumbent polled 20 votes whilst Mr Azabe polled 19 votes, compelling the Assembly to fix a new date for another election.

Mr Abdulai Abubakar, the District Coordinating Director expressed dismay about the failure of the Assembly Members to elect PM, saying, “this would affect the conduct of business of the Assembly.”

He said the Assembly won the District Development Facility (DDF) for three consecutive years and attributed that to the regular sittings of the Assembly, adding that, “now we don’t have a PM to lead the house in discussions of government policies and programmes and this may affect us when it comes to the DDF test this year”

He appealed to the Assembly members to iron out their differences for the sake of the development of the District and ensure that they elect a PM to conduct the affairs of the house.

The Upper East Deputy Minister,  Mr Daniel Syme, who is responsible for the Garu-Tempane District (the district has no substantive District Chief Executive), commended the Assembly for its  growth.

He reiterated the need for the Assembly members to bury their differences and unite to elect a competent PM to steer the affairs of the house effectively and efficiently.

The Deputy Regional Minister assured the people that the Regional Coordinating Council was working feverishly to get a substantive District Chief Executive for the district.

Source: GNA