Our MCE Respect Chiefs and Elder - Ga South PM fires at Critics

Scores of youth believed to be causing trouble within the Ga South Municipality in the Greater Accra Region have been warned to stop their continuous habit of using the names of chiefs and other traditional officeholders to attack the integrity of the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Nyarni (MCE) without any wrongdoing.

The Presiding Member of Ga South Municipal Assembly stated categorically that, per the records in the 19 electoral areas, there have been clear indications that the current  MCE is the best person who has regularly engaged the chiefs, traditional office holders, key stakeholders, opinion leaders, religious leaders and Imams in the decision making processes of the Assembly.

Mr Mohammed on behalf of the Assembly members including government appointees of Ga South Municipal Assembly issued the warning when he was responding to a current outburst of the chiefs and youth group in Bortianor, Oshie, Krokobite and Tuba communities within Ga South.

The MCE has come under fire by scores of traditional office holders in the electoral areas within the Municipality who have, therefore, appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to give them a new MCE, accusing the latter of wrongdoing.

According to the traditional office holders, the MCE has woefully failed to represent the government and rather made the New Patriotic Party (NPP) unpopular because he failed to deliver to the expectation of the constituents.

The chiefs, with diverse professional backgrounds within all the towns of the traditional areas, led by the Chief of Tuba community, Nene Tetteh Ibrahim, Bortianor Kingmaker, Nii Akotey IV, Shipii Kwei Mensah IÌI, Nii Adotenhene III are protesting the re-appointment of  Mr Nyarni as the MCE for Ga South.

The chiefs chastised Mr Nyarni for what they described as gross insubordination, insolence, poor performance, poor human relations, and neglect of the traditional office holders within the municipality. 

It is along this line that the chiefs are calling on President Akufo-Addo not to re-appoint their "poorly" performed MCE.

According to them, Ga South has not only become stunted and retarded in development but a testimony of incompetent, visionless, disrespectful and arrogant political controller.

They disclosed to the media that the MCE had not only poorly performed but continuously demonstrated gross insolence and bossiness towards the traditional leaders and other stakeholders.

They said most problems in the municipality remained unattended to and therefore, called on the President to kindly ensure that Mr Nyarni was not re-appointed.

But, the current attack on the MCE didn't go well with the various Assembly members including the government appointees of the area who had taken over the issue and indicated that the allegations levelled against the MCE by the youth and chiefs in some communities with Ga South were factually incorrect.

To set the record straight on the issue, Mr Mohammed maintained that what the people are saying against the MCE was not a true reflection on the grounds.

He described the actions of the group as a wrong move just to tarnish his images and warned them to leave the MCE alone, saying that the MCE is a transformational leader who has worked to bring the needed development to the area.

They stated that the MCE is submissive, approachable self-reliant, good, transformational and delusional leaders they have ever had.

"Our MCE on the serious note have equal respect for chiefs, traditional office holders, key stakeholders, opinion leaders, religious leaders and Imams and l can say on the authority that is the Chairman of Public Regulation Complain Committee of the Assembly there are no reports of the MCE being a person of insubordination, insolence, poor performance, poor human relations, and neglect of the traditional office holders within the municipality have no brought to my notice. So l want to say that all that they are saying on the MCE are a complete fallacy and it must be disregarded," Mr Mohammed reaffirmed.

Mr Mohammed who is also a former Assembly Member of Obom Electoral Area in Accra noted that every single community in the nineteen electoral areas within the municipality dully has its shares from the Ga South Municipal Assembly resources under the able leadership of the incumbent MCE.

"The MCE has always engaged the leaders of the Ga South Municipal, Landlords Association. The MCE, as part of the practice open-door policy always do invite the chiefs, traditional office holders, key stakeholders, opinion leaders, religious leaders and Imams to his office to discuss the matters in the interest of the community. Our MCE always invited chiefs and other key stakeholders to Assembly programmes, so where are the allegations of the chiefs from," he asked.

He added that there have been numbers of public community engagements initiated by the current MCE where the people are being allowed to come out with their diverse problems and issues to be solved.

According to Mr Mohammed, prior to the 2020 general election, the MCE invited the chiefs and other relevant traditional officeholders to the separate meetings with President Nana Addo-Addo and First Lady, Her Excellency Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo to discuss the matters of national interest. 

He disclosed that every programmes and project being executed by the Assembly under the leadership of the MCE, the chiefs and traditional leaders are made known before the MCE embarked on them.

He added that MCE with the broad consultation with the traditional authorities, particularly the ones at the Amanfro Traditional Council secured the land for the building of the current office complex in the Ga South Municipal Assembly.

Against this background, Mr Mohammed who doubles as the Domibra-Obom Constituency Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) pointed out that twenty-six (26) out of twenty-seven (27) Assembly members including the government appointees have solidly endorsed the second term re-appointment bid of Mr Nyarni.

"We have even signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support our stance that we want the retention of the current MCE because he has performed well to their expectations," he stressed.

According to him, the MCE operates an open door policy and that didn't deny any chief of approaching him in his office to listen to their concerns.

"We the Assembly members being the representatives of the people from the nineteen electoral areas within the municipality wanted to state categorically that no chiefs of the towns and villages of Ga South approached and raised any bad issues against the MCE," Mr Mohammed stated.

On the allegations of non-performance, Mr Mohammed rubbished the allegations, saying that the social and infrastructure programmes and projects the MCE initiated since he was appointed to run the administrative affairs of the Assembly are visible in the electoral areas.

  Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu Greater Accra Region Correspondent