The Tarkwa High Court has dismissed a case brought before it by 21 assembly members, who were alleged to have been prevented from taking part in the confirmation process of the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Benjamin Kesse.
The court further awarded costs of GH¢1, 500 against each of the 21 assembly members.
The assembly members, led by the member for Kwabedu Electoral Area, Paa Kwasi Ephraim, had wanted the court to nullify the purported meeting, which was called to confirm the MCE in his position.
They had wanted the court to declare the purported confirmation of the MCE as illegal, null and void and of no effect.
They had also wanted the court to order Benjamin Kesse to vacate the office of the MCE, and to not hold himself as Municipal Chief Executive for the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.
The Story
It would be recalled that the President’s nominee for the position of MCE for Tarkwa-Nsuaem somewhere last year, failed to secure the number of votes needed, for him to be accordingly confirmed as new MCE for the area.
Benjamin Kesse, had secured 22 ‘YES’ votes from the 42 voting assembly members, but was unable to garner the required 28 ‘YES’ votes, that is, the two-thirds majority criterion required  to this end.
He had been nominated after the President’s dismissal of the then-MCE, Gilbert Kennedy Asmah.  And members of the assembly had converged after 10 days, for the second round of the voting process.
At that meeting, Benjamin Kesse had been confirmed. He had obtained 19 ‘YES’ votes out of the 21 voting assembly members present.
21 members of the assembly, however, claimed they had been prevented from taking part in that meeting.
They had therefore, decided to challenge in court the outcome of the voting, as they alleged the confirmation was fraught with serious illegalities. The court, however, after a long hearing ruled that they could not adduce enough evidence to show why that MCE should not be in office.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi