The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly says it will refer allegations of forgery of signatures brought before it by some Assembly members against their colleagues to the Bureau of National Investigation, BNI.

The aggrieved members claim their signatures were falsified by a section of members of the Assembly who recently held a press conference calling for the passage of vote of no confidence in the Mayor, Kojo Bonsu.

A list containing names and signatures of 47 members was presented to the media at the press conference calling for the impeachment of the Mayor. But some members whose names appeared on the list are crying foul, claiming their signatures were forged.

About 10 out of the 47 names, as at the time of filing this report have written letters of disclaimer to the Kumasi Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director, notifying him of the forgery.

Assembly Member for Daaban Apraman Electoral Area, Linda Karikari in her letter indicated, “It has come to my attention that my name has been attached to a letter written by some Assembly Members to your office requesting your high office for a vote of No confidence in the Metro Chief Executive of the Assembly.

“I wish to distance and disassociate myself from the said request and to state unequivocally that I do not subscribe to the content. I further aver that I have never signed any such document for the purpose of impeaching the Metro Chief Executive.”

The letter further stated: “It is my wish that you cause an investigation into this matter and to further detach my name and details from the said letter”.

The Metropolitan Co-ordinator, Mr. Solomon Asiedu, revealed that following these revelations, the Assembly, instead of calling a meeting to consider the request, would rather make a formal case of falsification of signatures to the BNI for investigations to commence immediately.

Other members who raised the alarm include Assembly members for Sokoban Electoral Area, Isaac Osei Tutu; Ahinsan Electoral Area,  James Okyere; Asokwa Extension Electoral Area, Victor Amoako Agyemang; Chirapatre Electoral Area, Charles Talensi Bawa; and Ayigya Electoral Area, Kwadwo Frimpong.

In a related development, some of the assembly members have accused the Presiding Member of the Assembly, Nana Kofi Senya for the seeming lack of respect for the mayor, Kojo Bonsu.

In a seven page statement, signed by sixty-one members and copied to the media, the members condemned calls by some members of the house for the passage of a vote of no confidence in the Mayor for allegations of what they called “abuse of office, incompetence and lack of respect for laid down rules and regulations governing the assembly”.

They pointed out that, “We the majority of the Assembly Members would not allow ourselves to be driven into such hit and run syndrome or attitude that has always been the tactics of some few Assembly members”.

Adding that, “We also want to put on record that, the inability of the chair to stamp its authority on the floor of the house in most cases resulted in physical fight, heckling of members, intimidation, to the extent that a member went to the high table to register her concern by banging the table”.

The statement stressed that, “there is total disorder, indiscipline and lack of respect for leadership of the house by some few Assembly members and we are calling on the general public to visit the house at its sittings to observe things for themselves”.

The members stated that, “we believe that the good people of the metropolis can see the physical forward match or movement in terms of development and infrastructural improvement under Hon. Kojo Bonus’s administration”

“The action of some members is to create panic and a situation that does not exists; in that, looking at the concluding part of their petition, they are calling on the President to intervene in order to bring about peaceful co-existence and dialogue” it added.

They therefore described the call for the impeachment of the Mayor as “mischievous”.

This, they claimed, is because even if they had any grievances, “the right quarters for redress is the complaints committee of the Assembly instead of resorting to the media to peddle or propagate wrong information in order to tarnish the hard won reputation of the Mayor”.

“The Chief Executive is a decent man, hardworking and down to earth to every member of the house. He has a vision to accomplish and it behooves every member and the general public to extent their support to him”