Emmanuel Nortey
Assembly members of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) were criticized yesterday by the Metropolitan Coordinating Director (MCD) of the Assembly, Emmanuel Nortey for not wearing the appropriate dress to the Assembly’s general meeting.
The Assembly members, who were aggrieved by the pronouncement, noted that nobody could prescribe a dress code for them because they are not paid any clothing allowance.
They therefore decided to bring the general assembly meeting of the day to abrupt end.
Owing to the absence of key stakeholders at the Assembly’s sitting, a motion was moved by the Assembly member for Kaiser Electoral Area, Nana Yaw Opoku, for the adjournment of the meeting.
The Assembly members further demanded an explanation from the MCD.
The turmoil resulted in the adjournment of the presentation by the new Chief Executive of TMA, Felix Nii Mensah Anang-La.
The MCD stated that “I am aware invitations to all the stakeholders were dispatched earlier, with the exception of the Tema East MP, who I was informed, had travelled abroad when his letter was sent. The Assembly failed to send invitation letters to the three Members of Parliament (MPs), the Paramount Chief and other tribal heads and heads of the Tema Business Centres in time.”
In response, Nana Yaw Danso presented evidence of the invitation letter the MCD’s office served the Tema East MP on Tuesday.
Nana Yaw Opoku Danso moved a motion for the adjournment of the day’s sitting, which the Presiding Member Richard Fiadomor upheld.
The members further alleged that this was not the first time the MCD was causing embarrassment to the house.
“We have had a couple of this deliberate actions by our MCD, but this time, we want to prove a point that times have changed, we are fed up with this attitude of his,” they declared.
They further added that the adjournment would affect the work of the Assembly, but the motion had to be moved to send a signal to the MCD.
The members lauded each other for fiercely opposing the MCD, who attempted to stigmatize some of them for what he described as improper dressing.
From Bernard Aryee, Tema