[ad_1]
President Nana Akufo-Addo
President Nana Akufo-Addo urged members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly to stop blackmailing his candidate for Metropolitan Director General Sam Pyne and endorse him.
Members had decided not to approve Mr Pyne until the government repaid a GHS 50 million debt owed by the Assembly.
According to members of the Assembly, indebtedness has largely contributed to the underdevelopment of Kumasi.
Assembly presiding member Stephen Ofori has publicly notified that the assembly will not approve any candidate unless all their debts are paid by the government.
Stephen Ofori added that these debts were contracted under President Kufour’s tenure, but when he left office, the NDC government which took the reins of government paid for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Assembly. metropolitan area of Tema and left them out.
“We have debts that the government has to pay for us and it is not a debt that we are supposed to pay. It was under the era of former President Kufour that he instructed the assembly to resume these projects and promised to bail us out on these projects, but after he left power and NDC took over power, they paid for Accra and Tema and left Kumasi and this debt has been on our necks over the years.
“So we are saying that if the government does not pay this debt for us, no individual will occupy this seat of mayor.”
But commenting on the matter in an interview on Pure FM watched by President Akufo Addo said that the position taken by the assembly is wrong.
“I don’t understand the connection, is he the one who incurred the debt?” If he is the one who caused the debt, then I can agree with the position of the members of the assembly but that is not the case. Will he be a victim of the past? I don’t think it’s fair. I call on the members of the assembly to examine its competence and approve it to begin work.
“I have asked the Minister of Local Government to look into the debt issue and give me an appropriate briefing on the origin of the debt. Because we have seen this so-called debt many times, on surveys the numbers do not add up, we have seen it in many areas of national life – energy sector, railways, well others.
President Akufo-Addo added: “I don’t see how… and that they are going to prevent Kumasi from having a real general manager because of the past? I don’t think it’s fair. It appears to be blackmail. This is not the way to do it. I think what they need to get from him when he comes before them early on is to get the commitment to deal with it, that will be the right way to go. If they feel it deserves to be confirmed, let them know that when it approves item number one on the agenda, it will look at the debt and work with the government to erase it.
Source link
