Cape Coast Metro re-elects Presiding Member

The Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly (CCMA) on Thursday re-elected Mr Samuel Atta-Mensah as the Presiding Member (PM) of the sixth Assembly.

Mr Atta-Mensah, who is the incumbent PM, polled 58 votes out of  a total of 62 votes cast to win the election as his opponent Mr Mustapha Ahmed withdrew his nomination after two rounds of voting, during which none of them got the two-thirds majority of 45 votes needed.

The keenly contested polls were supervised and conducted by the Cape Coast Metropolitan office of the Electoral Commission.

Ms Eva Bannerman, a circuit court Judge, swore Mr Atta-Mensah into office after he had taken the oath of allegiance, office and official oath.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Atta-Mensah thanked the members for the confidence reposed in him and pledged to operate an open door policy, and that, his vision for the house was to have a solid and united assembly.

He said the assembly would forge ahead with the development of the area and appealed to the members to give him the needed support to execute his programmes and projects.

Later in an address, the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Anthony Egyir Aikins, said security in the metropolis has been generally calm and expressed his appreciation to all the security agencies for exhibiting professionalism and hard work, which saw the region through a peaceful election.

On development projects, the MCE pointed out that within the last four years, a lot of projects and programmes had been completed by the assembly, and that, this has put the metropolitan area on the threshold of opening up the city to other regions in the country.

On the famous Kotokuraba market complex and the Cape Coast sports Stadium, Mr Aikins said it was heart-warming to know that though the commencement of the two prestigious edifices has been a long haul, the levelling of the sports complex site has begun in earnest whilst the documentation for the release of advance mobilization for the commencement of the Kotokuraba market complex was at its final stage.

He said measures were also being put in place to expand the Abura market and that the assembly has also adapted  the medallion system of operating taxi cabs, adding that, a technical committee instituted to undertake feasibility studies for its implementation has submitted its report

The MCE however noted that the operation of an effective and efficient medallion system cannot succeed if there are no proper street-naming and property addressing system in the area and urged the committee working on the programme to endeavour to complete its work within 15 months.

Mr Aikins expressed concern about the noisy nature of the metropolis, particularly, the northern part of it, where community public address systems were being used and hinted that the assembly has decided to regulate the operation of the public address systems.

He said measures are being put in for people to acquire permits before becoming eligible  to  operate a public address system in the metropolis, adding that, similar arrangements were underway to check the noise levels of churches and music stores.

Mr Aikins announced that geological studies have revealed the find of large quantities of clay deposits around Domenase in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) district, which could be processed into cement.

He said the CCMA will negotiate with the KEEA to explore the possibility of going into a partnership to leverage resources to acquire the clay deposit sites to commence a Pozzolana cement factory.

The MCE said the Foso lagoon restoration project being undertaken by the assembly in collaboration with the City Council of Bonn in Germany, was on course and that the project was a contribution to climate change adaption and the protection of Biodiversity of the Lagoon area,

He said  the aim of the assembly among others is to turn the Foso lagoon  into a fishing  harbour and that, the assembly was in contact with some investors and other stakeholders  to  seriously pursue the project.

Touching on tourism, Mr Aikins said the assembly was optimistic about the tourism potentials in the area and that with the assistance of GTZ, a tourism bureau has been created at the offices of the Conservation International at the Heritage House,

He said GTZ was also assisting the assembly to come up with an integrated tourist map that would incorporate the tourism potentials of Cape Coast, Elmina and the Twifo area, but regretted the open defecation along the beaches in the metropolis.

Mr Aikins said to supplement the efforts of the Eco-brigade and the sanitation guard at the beaches, some personnel from the city guard corps have temporarily been deplored at the beaches to ward off people and warned that very soon offenders would be prosecuted in court.

The Member of Parliament for Cape Coast North constituency, Mr Ebo Barton Odro, commended the members for their immense contributions towards the development of the area, stressing that, the number of development projects executed in the metropolitan area within the last four years was enormous and commendable.

He however called for unity among the members, noting that, without unity and understanding it would be very difficult for the members to undertake  the number of development projects due the area and urged them to give the presiding member the needed support and assistance to enable him to operate effectively.

Mr Odro, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, assured the members that the kotokuraba market complex and the Cape Coast sports stadium projects would start this year because the necessary documents and funds have been sourced for the smooth take-off of the projects.

Source: GNA