KROBO YOUTH, LABOUR GROUPS DECLARE A BOYCOTT OF ASSEMBLY TOLLS In protest against suspended assembly elections in Lower Manya Krobo Wednesday July 3, 2013, Odumase-Krobo: As part of the series of activities to protest against the current state of affairs in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality, the youth and labour groups in the municipality including the Market Women Association, the GPRTU, Garages Association and other artisan groups etc. have declared a total boycott of any form of tolls, levies, fees, charges etc. which constitute Internally Generated Funds (IGF) on which the Municipal Assembly runs. They said effective Wednesday July 3, 2013, they will openly resist the assembly’s toll collectors as a precursor of what will turn a more aggressive crusade to draw public and national attention to the continuous delay (ill-treatment) by the Local Government Ministry to initiate the actions for the conduct of the Assembly elections which have been on suspension since 2010. This was disclosed at a press conference held at Agormanya in the municipality. Addressing a press conference today at Agormanya, Director of Communications for Kloma Gbi, Henking A. Adjase-Kodjo, said “We can’t see why our Municipal Assembly should continue to be without Assembly Members one year after the resolution of the dispute that caused the suspension of the elections. We are of the view that if we as citizens can’t PARTICIPATE (through our representative/assembly men) in the Local Governance process, then we equally must not CONTRIBUTE FINANCIALLY to running it, hence our radical stance to boycott any payment (IGF) that goes to fund the activities of the assembly”. “We will also aggressively resist any attempt to impose anybody on us in an acting capacity as MCE if the elections are not conducted; we want nothing but the conduct of elections to bring the Municipal Assembly back onto the rail. It would be recalled that as a result of an attempted re-demarcation exercise by the Local Government Ministry (which has proven to be needless), seven electoral areas at Akuse were thrown into contention leading to the suspension of the 2010 Assembly elections in the municipality. Till date, the municipal assembly remains empty (the only one nationwide) and no genuine effort is being made by the relevant authorities to hold the elections, one whole year after the resolution of the boundary dispute by the Supreme Court (on June 13, 2012). The situation has since turned a huge hindrance in the selection process of substantive Chief Executive for the municipality because there are no assembly members to, with a two-third majority, approve whoever is nominated by the President of the Republic for the position, accounting for the reason why candidates have been nominated for the neighbouring districts/municipalities such as Yilo, Upper Manya, Asuogyaman BUT NOT Lower Manya. What is more disturbing is the fact that nothing seems to be a justifiable and compelling reason enough for the authorities to initiate the process for the election to be held with the urgency it deserves, not even the unending appeal from the chiefs and people.