A local governance expert Mr. Amon Kotei says President Mills could renominate the rejected DCE nominee for the Shama District Assembly Ms Emilia Arthur without any legal implications. Mr Teye emphasized that there is no law preventing the president from putting forward the name of Ms Arthur for a second time as District Chief Executive for the district. Ms Arthur failed to poll the required two-thirds of the 17 member assembly on two occasions and was thus rejected. But 16 of the assembly members are said to have appended their signatures to a petition addressed to the president to renominate Ms Arthur, stressing, they made a mistake in their earlier election. Responding to the issues however, the local governance expert said the rule that the failure of a nominee to secure the mandate of their assembly members makes the person unfit for renomination is only a convention which has no roots in the law. “I think I will go with the assembly members and ask the president to go ahead to renominate her,” he emphasized. Mr Kotei stressed that the Shama situation is a typical test case for local governance in the country but decried what he said has been the undue influence of political parties in the election of assembly heads. He said the assembly members have been tasked to vet nominees for certain important skills and that partisan influences of their decision could derail what is supposed to be a clean process. The letter to the president preceded a press conference sponsored by a Shama-based association which sought to throw its support behind the nominee. Joy News’ correspondent, Kwaku Owusu Peprah reported that the assembly members regretted their decision to vote against Ms Arthur and hope the president would heed their request to renominate her. Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com