Our MCE Respect Chiefs and Others; Assembly members of Nzema East declare

Painstaking investigations conducted by Soireenews.com have revealed a serious plot being hatched by some self-seeking Assembly members in the Nzema East Municipality in the Western Region to, ostensibly sabotage the good works being done by incumbent Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the area, Mr. Frank Okpenyen, to transform the municipality.

These Assembly members were led by the Assemblymember for Granthill Electoral Area Hon Kassum Braimah, Assembly Member for Tolanu Electoral Area, Hon Emmanuel Kweku Afful, and Assemblymember for Tumentu Electoral Area, Hon Richmond Kweku.

These assembly members who are believed to be members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), had implemented their plan by way of using the names of some assembly members without their consent to sign an ill-fated petition which aims at tarnishing the hard-won reputation of Mr. Okpenyen.

They ostensibly exhibited such behavior to make the MCE look bad in the eyes of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the appointment authority not to re-appoint him as MCE.

They went on to carry out their evil plan by leveling six false charges including lack of gross respect for all constituents, lack of transparency and consultations, poor performance on the MMDA rankings, lackadaisical attitude towards the fight against Illegal mining (galamsey), premix fuel mess and abuse of power. 

But luckily, the plan of these diabolical assembly members to destroy the name of the MCE has completely backfired.

Their evil plan has failed because almost majority of the assembly members whose names were used in the list of the so-called fourteen (14) Concerned Elected Assembly Members of Nzema East Municipal Assembly (NEMA) who are urging President Akufo-Addo not to re-appoint Mr. Okpenyen as MCE, have come out publicly to disassociate themselves from what they call a “malicious statement” against him.

This development arrests to the fact that the three Assembly members were disowned by the colleagues who were reported to have been urging them to render an unqualified apology to the MCE for peddling falsehood against him.

It would be recalled that in a press statement released on May 27, 2021, some assembly members indicated that the MCE had not performed to their satisfaction ever since he was offered the opportunity to lead the assembly.

They claimed that the eleven (11) elected assembly members out of twenty-five (25) electoral areas were unhappy with the conduct of the MCE whom they believe had exhibited gross disrespect to them and other traditional authorities in the area.

However, the majority of other assembly members including the Assemblywoman for Gwira Banso Electoral Area, Hon Agustina Ama Tabuah Kwofie, stated categorically that their views were not sought.

And they accused the three in the persons of Hon Kassum Braimah, Hon Emmanuel Kweku Afful, and Hon Richmond Kweku leading of what they described as the wrong attack on the MCE and warned them to stop that habit since the majority of them are in support of the second term re-appointment of the MCE.

In a strongly-worded press statement and copied to Soireenews.com, Madam Kwofie urged the general public, especially residents of Nzema municipality, to ignore claims made by the Concerned Elected Assembly Members of Nzema East Municipal Assembly, who were urging President Akufo-Addo not to re-appoint Hon Frank Okpenyen as MCE.

She wrote: "I bring you greetings from Gwira Benso Electoral Area in the Nzema East Municipal Assembly. My attention has been drawn to a release dated 25th May 2021 circulating on different social media platforms and other news portals on the above-mentioned topic."

She noted that some of the reasons stated in the release included lack of respect for all constituents, lack of transparency and consultations, poor performance on the MMDA rankings, lackadaisical attitude towards the fight against Illegal mining (galamsey), premix fuel mess, and abuse of power.

She believed the constitution allows freedom of expression, speech, thought, and conscience under article 21 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

"I, Hon. Augustina Ama Tabuah Kwofie Assemblymember for Gwira Banso Electoral Area believes the fundamental human rights of every citizen must be respected at all times as enshrined in the constitution. I, therefore, state categorically that my consent or view was not sought before that release.

"I disassociate myself from that release or publication circulating all over. I respectfully ask those behind to expunge my name from the list of assembly members who signed the release. Please kindly treat this as very important," she stated.

On his part, the Assemblymember for Dadwen Electoral Area, Hon Daniel Manso, also jumped into the defense of the MCE and described him as a good listener, team builder, peacemaker, and very transparent person who has worked to the expectation of the majority of the people, particularly assembly members in the area.

"The allegation leveled against the MCE for Nzema East is very unfortunate and factually incorrect. Notwithstanding, l cannot totally disagree with the issues raised. Everyone has a way of analyzing issues. How someone sees things might be different from the way l see them. 

"To me, the MCE is very hardworking and very nice to his Assembly members. He is the first MCE who arranged a new year package for all the Assembly members," he noted.

According to him, the welfare of the municipality was key to their incumbent MCE

"By this, I want to say that, I know nothing about the content of the press release and treat it as unfortunate. 

"The President is the only person mandated to appoint MMDCEs. Though I may recommend Hon Frank Okpenyen to President Akufo-Addo, he has the power to appoint him. Let us all stay together and move the municipality forward," he stated.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Soireenews.com, some chiefs and youth in the area have called on President Akufo-Addo to retain the MCE for sustainable development.

They warned various top shots in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the area who were interested in the position of Nzema East Municipal Chief Executive to stop the habit of hiding behind faceless personalities to attack the integrity of the incumbent MCE.

"We all know that Mr. Okpenyen has performed greatly to bring the needed sustainable development to the Nzema Municipality and nobody can rubbish his achievements.

"If some individuals are interested in the position of the MCE, it is not good for such persons to wrongly accuse Mr. Okpenyen and fabricate false stories and lies just because of their selfish interests.

"The habit of attacking prominent personalities, peddling falsehood, and destroying their hard-earned reputations just because of political positions is not good for the county's democratic dispensation and must stop now in our body politics," the chiefs warned.

Declaring their total support for the second term retention of the MCE, the traditional officeholders and youth appealed to President Akufo-Addo to consider the good works done by Mr. Okpenyen for the past years and retain him for a second term.

According to them, the MCE has demonstrated a very good working relationship with the chiefs, assembly members, business personalities, persons living with disabilities (PWDs), students, traditional officeholders, and religious leaders, which has brought massive development into the fourteen electoral areas within the municipality.

"We are calling on the President to retain the MCE because since he assumed office in 2018, Mr. Okpenyen has distinguished himself as a development-oriented, human-centered individual as well as a great asset to the municipality.

The chiefs and youth emphasized that the kind of social and infrastructure intervention projects and programs seen in the electoral areas were unprecedented.

Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu, Greater Accra Region