Bongo District Assembly Fails to Choose Presiding Member through Voting

The Bongo District Assembly has again failed to elect a Presiding Member, as neither of the two candidates secured the required two-thirds majority of the votes cast.

The position of presiding member in the Bongo District Assembly has remained vacant since the 2023 District Assembly Elections due to the district’s inability to hold a successful election for the role.

After the appointment of the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the Bongo Constituency, the members of the district assembly needed to confirm him in a meeting chaired by the Presiding Member.

However, due to the absence of a presiding member, the district assembly could not confirm the newly appointed District Chief Executive into office. And for this reason, a decision was reached to first swear in the 17 appointees who were supposed to take part in the voting process, after which the voting process to elect the presiding member would commence.

A decision was made to swear in the 17 appointees who will participate in the voting process, after which they will proceed to elect the presiding member.

The voting process was unsuccessful as neither candidate secured the required two-thirds majority of the votes cast.

The members constituting the District Assembly, which includes 38 Assembly Members, 17 appointees, the member of Parliament, and the DCE, cast their votes except for the DCE and the MP.

The District Assembly consists of 38 assembly members, 17 appointees, the Member of Parliament (MP), and the DCE. They all proceeded with voting, except for the DCE and the MP, who abstained from casting their votes.

The law demands that a person must secure two-thirds of the votes of all members of the assembly, which in this case was 38 votes.

However, the first contestant, Hon. Mba Asampana, secured 35 votes, while the second contestant, Hon. Ataba Philimon Atiah, secured 19 votes.

The district director, therefore, pleaded with the voters and the aspirants to go on a 30-minute break and put things in order for a second voting attempt.

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After about 3 hours, the process to initiate the second voting attempt remained stalled.

As the situation got out of hand, the Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, Naba Baba Salifu Lemyaarum, had to step in to bring sanity.

He attempted to resolve the impasse by appealing to the two contestants to look beyond political differences and allow one of them to assume the presiding member role, considering the issue’s broader implications.

“This issue is a serious one, and when not properly looked into, it can cause serious damage. Hon. Mba is an uncle to Hon. Ataba, and yet the two of them are held tied to this problem, and so if care is not taken, it will affect the family relationship. I am calling on both of you not to allow politics to destroy your family.”

He further pleaded with Hon. Ataba Philimon Atiah to step down for his uncle’s sake and for the sake of peace and family.

“On this note I want to plead with Hon. Ataba to step down and allow your uncle to take the position. I understand the difficulty in this decision, but when a person is suffering from stomach pains, he/she will have to take a bitter medicine to cure the pain.”

Meanwhile, the paramount chief also reminded the people that Hon. Ataba was not supposed to do this again because of previous experiences.

“Hon. Ataba has contested for this position thrice and had to step down for different individuals and so was not supposed to suffer this fate again, but given the nature of the issue and for the sake of peace and my sake, I will plead with him to allow this process to go on.”

Hon. Ataba also took the turn to express his feelings in the matter at hand.

According to him, it is painful to accept the decision, given the fact that he has pre-informed his uncle of his decision to contest for the position, which he blessed him for, without opening up to him about his interest in the position.

“As I stand here today, I must say that I am not happy, not at all. I told you earlier about everything that I went through in my quest to serve this district. If my uncle had told me that he was going to contest the position, all this wouldn’t have happened. I have stepped down on three different occasions for others. Why me again? However, for the sake of the development of Bongo District and the many people that have spoken to me, especially the Paramount Chief, I have agreed to step down.”

He further stated that he has not taken any money for this decision.

“Let me make it clear to everybody that I have not taken any money from anybody to arrive at this decision. It is purely for peace and development.”

Hon. Mba expressed his gratitude to his nephew for his decision to step down for him.