DCE of Kintampo South District in hot water for illegally auctioning of assembly properties

The concerned assembly members of Kintampo South district, bares teeth on their District Chief Executive (DCE) Hon Opoku Nyame. for illegally auctioning of the assembly properties without the due procedure.

Accordingly, the assembly  members of the district accuses the DCE of not abiding by the law which details that,  the Local Governance Act 1993 ACT 462 and Act 2016 ACT 936, the district assembly is mandated to among other things raised revenue dubbed, Internally Generated Fund(IGF) to undertake development projects to augment the central government.  The act further provides a comprehensive guide for the smooth running of the district assembly.

The members states that “Hon Opoku Nyame became District Chief Executive (DCE) for the district, he has proven to be uncooperative and generally lacks the required leadership qualities capable of propelling growth of the district.”

Read the full statement below:

THE DCE MUST RESIGN FOR ILLEGALLY AUCTIONING OFF ASSEMBLY PROPERTIES WITHOUT

FOLLOWING DUE PROCESS

Good morning to everyone gathered here for this important media engagement. Let me on behalf of the Concerned Assemblymen of Kintampo South district, thank all the media people for their swift response to our late call for them to be present and cover this important event.

We the concerned assemblymen of Kintampo South district assembly, have invited you here to use this medium to bring to bare the flagrant disregard for due process with regards to the supposed auctioning of some properties of the district assembly by the DCE Hon Opoku Nyame. In the interest of the people of Kintampo South district, we are of the firm believe that, this matter must be brought to public light for an open discussion and proper scrutiny of the processes leading to the shady transaction.

Indeed, the onus of holding the DCE who is clothed with executive power to do things within the domain of his authority and within the permit of the law, lies solely with the Assemblymen who are direct representatives of the people of the district. It is line with these reasons that we have convened this
press conference.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, in accordance with the Local Governance Act 1993 ACT 462 and Act 2016 ACT 936, the district assembly is mandated to among other things raised revenue dubbed, Internally Generated Fund(IGF) to undertake development projects to augment the central government. The act further provides a comprehensive guide for the smooth running of the district assembly.

Similarly, the standing orders which is the operating document that guides the operation of the district assembly further provides directions as to facilitate the smooth running of the district. Unfortunately, since Hon Opoku Nyame became District Chief Executive (DCE) for the district, he has proven to be uncooperative and generally lacks the required leadership qualities capable of propelling growth of the district. Indeed, he has largely destroyed the hitherto bright future of the district due to his reckless actions and disregard for Assemblymen, chiefs and other opinion leaders.

Kindly find below our reasons for drawing this conclusion;

1. Hon Opoku Nyame since assumption of office has consistently ignored the Assemblymen in statutory gatherings, such as Farmers day celebration, Independence day celebration and others. We the Assemblymen mostly get to hear about these programs through the local radio stations. We have witnessed two(2) each of such programs and in all of them, he did not invited the Assemblymen. We view this as disrespectful to the Assemblymen and a deliberate move to sideline us from taking part in such programs. This obviously should not be something that we should encourage especially when there are conscious efforts to foster cooperation and involvement in our local governance system.

2. The DCE has singlehandedly and without any meaningful notice served to the Assemblymen,
auctioned five(5) vehicles belonging the assembly. Check below details of the vehicles:
1. 1 GR215 Motor Grader, No registration.
2. 1 Farmtrac 80 Tractor and water tank bulk, reg. No. GV5150-V
3. 1 Nissan Pick-up, Hard body, reg. No. GV414-14
4. Nissan Patrol, reg. No. GV415-14
5. Ford Everest ST Wagon, accidental scrap, reg. No. GE3102Y.

To our amusement, the four(4) vehicles which were in redeemable conditions and some even still on the road as well as the scrap, were all sold for a paltry Gh¢46,000. Does this not sound strange? Even if the five(5) vehicles were all reduced to scraps, it was still possible to realize something better than the chicken change Gh¢46,000.

Things simply don't add up in the transaction. Quiet apart from the value of the vehicles sold which raises eyebrows, we are questioning what informed the decision to auction these properties? Is it the case that, the assembly have acquired new ones and therefore no longer needs them or there were prevailing ulterior motives behind the sale of these valuable assets? Still on the fraudulent auctioning, we have reliably gathered that, all the five(5) vehicles were sold to the DCE himself.

In other words, the supposed auctioning was only portrayed to deceive the unsuspecting public but in reality, the DCE himself took home all the five(5) vehicles. As to whether he had other unforeseen accomplishes that he intended to share his booty with, is another topic worth exploring.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we want to further ask the DCE that, since he took over, what asset has he added to the assembly stock for him to have the moral right to disposed off the vehicles in that ungodly manner?

In furtherance to these concerns and questions that we have asked, we want state emphatically that, the whole auction process was a well orchestrated plan that he hatched to create and loot the assembly resources.

Especially the manner in which the process was shrouded in secrecy validates our position. We have gathered from unofficial sources that, the DCE claims to have sort authority from the chief of staff and that the auctioning was published in one of the news paper. So we want ask him, if granted that the chief of staff authorized the auctioning, does that implies that all other processes such as inviting the Assemblymen to witness the auctioning becomes of no essence? In any case, how did the chief of staff come to know about the auctioning?

Your guess is as good as mine, the DCE wrote to the chief of staff without the express approval of the general assembly which in itself is illegal. And again, what use will be the Assemblymen if the DCE could initiative such huge transaction, planned and execute it without recourse to members of the assembly? Again, yes we later on saw screenshots of the so called publication on the newspaper being circulated. But we understand that, in Kintampo we have four(4) functioning Radio stations, which of these stations did they published the auctioning on?

Because it is trite knowledge that, more people listen to radio and watch TV programs than read news papers, so if the process was borne out of good intention, what prevented the DCE from advertising the auction on the radio stations but chose to only do that on an unpopular newspaper?

Ladies and Gentlemen, you see, it is clear from the evidence that we have provided here that the DCE acted ultra
vires. In others, he went above his authority as DCE. Fellow concerned Assemblymen, our friends from the media, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, another pressing issue that we want to bring to light is the conduct of the DCE which has led to the closer of the District Magistrate Court. Section 10(g) of the Local Government Act 1993 Act 462, provides one of the functions of the district assembly as follows; *"shall ensure ready access to Courts in the district for the promotion of Justice"*.

The DCE instead of ensuring the realization of this statutory provision, has rather acted in an unprofessional manner leading to the evacuation of the Magistrate and subsequent closer of the court by the chief justice. This obviously cannot be a pleasant development.

How it happened, we have gathered that, the DCE had a near fisticuffs with the judge over an issuewhich was supposed to be settled amicably. We understand the issue had to do with the DCE occasionally using the court room for meetings when the court was not sitting. However, the place is usually left unkempt anytime the DCE and his people used the court for their meetings. It was for this reason that the judge approached the DCE for them to look for an alternative place for their meetings.

The DCE became infuriated and verbally abused the judge which was later reported to the CJ leading to
the closer of the court. This is unfortunate!

The development has compelled people who needs legal services to travel to Kintampo North Municipal for that service. Imagine someone who lives in Agyina and has to travel all the way to Kintampo for a service that but for the reckless conduct of the DCE would have accessed it in Jema. Consider the extra cost he or she has to bear with the accompanying risks and stress he or she has to go through!

Ladies and Gentlemen, as we would soon draw the curtains down, we want to make the following
demands as well make our position on the matter as follows;
1. Consequent to the above issues that we have raised, we are of the strongest view that, the DCE Hon Opoku Nyame has soiled his reputation so much as to render him unfit to continue to hold the office. He should humbly resign to pave way for the president to appoint a credible person to head the district. His continuous stay in office as DCE is dangerous to the growth of the District since his thirst for selling the assembly properties can lead him to sell the office building itself. Even his official vehicle is not safe judging from the manner that he goes about selling assembly properties.

2. Another option which we are critically exploring, is to follow up strongly on the petition of VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE that we have submitted to the Presiding Member (PM). It is rather unfortunate that, the PM and the District Coordinating Director have sat on the petition and continue to give us flimsy excuses. Let me use this opportunity to send a word to them that, they are mandated by law to process our petition for the vote of no confidence to take place. Their scheming to deny us this right will be resisted through every means legally available. Someway somehow, he has to go. He does not just deserve to be the DCE.

3. While we wait for him to do the Honorable thing or be axed, we also want to appeal to the Chief Justice to reconsider his decision and open the Jema Magistrate Court for us. We the Assemblymen lives with the people in the communities and understands what they go through to access justice services.

4. We also wish to call on the chiefs and opinion leaders in the district to reason with us and push for the removal of the DCE. He is a total failure and must be shown the exit as early as possible. Without that, the district will continue to retard in growth and development. We thank you all for coming.
Long live Ghana!

Signed:
Albert Pimbo Salifu (Hon)
Leader, concerned Assemblymen.
Tel. 0242723686

Other members.

Source: Thepressradio.com| Atanga Mathew