<<Print>>

Some Members of the Ho Municipal Assembly on Wednesday engaged in a bout of verbal attacks that would have degenerated into fisticuffs but for a truce brokered by Togbe Tsali IV of Abutia Kpota. Togbe Tsali, Director of Community Development, reminded the members, who were at a general meeting, that the Assembly should be a learning place for prospective Members of Parliament and not for trading insults and attacks. The verbal exchanges began when some members chastised the management of the Assembly for not following due process in awarding contracts and suggested such contracts be abrogated or referred to the Executive Committee of the Assembly. But the quarrel reached its peak when Mrs Fafa Adinyira, Municipal Chief Executive accused Mr Delali Kasu for allegedly insulting the management for pursuing their selfish interests at the expense of the public. Mrs Adinyira�s accusation raised the tension in the Assembly hall as some officials of the Assembly and Assembly members traded insults openly with a few walking out of the hall. In the midst of the fray, Mrs Adinyira accused Mr Yao Semordey, Presiding Member of the Assembly, of pretending not to have heard the alleged insults directed at management. Mr Innocent Kodzo Dey, Assembly Member for Ho-Dome, earlier questioned the management on why it outsourced the collection of market tolls to WISDAF Company without due process. He said the Assembly had contravened sections of Act 462, which required that management worked closely with the Executive Committee of the Assembly and called for the abrogation of the contract. Some members also alleged that the management of the Assembly contracted some sanitation companies without the Assembly�s approval and paid GHC 87,000 to WISDAF for the purchase of land for an Assembly complex three years ago, which was a fiasco. Mr Kasu described some decisions of the Assembly as well intended but �good things at the wrong time.� Madam Sheba Aloryitor, Assemblywoman for Anlokordzi, said the Assembly was the highest decision making body and urged the management to learn to follow due process. Mr Semordey said issues of the management of the Assembly not following due process was too much for the Assembly to bear and called on the management to be transparent.