Assembly members kneeling after the event
The Omanhene of the Juaben Traditional Council, and Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siriboe has cleared the rumors trending that he forced the assembly members in his jurisdiction to kneel before him for voting against the President’s nominee.
On Sunday, pictures of some assembly members kneeling before the paramount chief surfaced on social media with captions alleging that the members who voted against the President’s Nominee for Juaben MCE were forced to kneel before the Juabenhene.
The Traditional Council through its Registrar, Kwaku Ankomah Asare in a statement noted that the said allegations made against the Omanhene are vicious lies and propaganda circulating on social media to tarnish the image of their chief.
The Traditional Council, in a statement setting the records straight leading to the development, noted that on Thursday, 14th October, 2021 around 3pm, the Presiding Member of the Juaben Municipal Assembly in the person of Joseph Asare and three other members of the Assembly came on their own free will and accord to see the Omanhene and pleaded with him to help resolve differences between Members of the Assembly and the President’s Nominee for the MCE.
“Under this plea, the Omanhene convened a meeting of the Assembly Members and the Nominee on Tuesday 19th October at the Palace. At the meeting which lasted more than three hours, the Assembly Members were allowed to express whatever misgivings they had towards the nominee”.
Assembly members in a pose with the Omanhene after the meeting
The statement noted that “When the issues were put before the nominee, he apologized to the Members for any shortcomings on his part”.
It added that “His apology was duly accepted by the Members. Nana thereafter reconciled the two parties. Both parties expressed their profound appreciation for the Omanhene’s timely intervention and his tact in reconciling them”.
Also “Around the afternoon of Friday 29th October, word reached the Omanhene that the Assembly Members were holding a press conference at the Adu Boahen Square, Juaben, on issues relating to the confirmation of the Nominee”.
The statement further explained that “The Omanhene, therefore, invited them to the Palace and sought to know what had prompted the holding of a press conference since they had initially referred the matter on the confirmation of the MCE to him and he had effectively dealt with it. He had hoped that any extenuating issues would have been first referred to him”.
The Assembly Members at this point admitted their mistake and pleaded with the Gyasehene to intercede on their behalf for forgiveness.
The Gyasehene then advised them that they should sign their expression of utmost remorse by kneeling.
“They duly complied with this advice. At no point was any Assembly Member forced to kneel for voting against the Nominee”, it explained.
After all the Omanhene had no mechanism to know how members voted, the statement added.
BY Daniel Bampoe