Youth in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality say they will resist any attempt by the Local Government Ministry to brush aside the pending Assembly elections and impose the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister or any other person on the municipality to act in the capacity as the Chief Executive as has been the case on two occasions in the recent history of the Municipality. They said because the Municipality currently has no Assembly Members who will, by a two-thirds majority and in line with constitutional provisions, endorse the President’s nominee from among persons vying for the position of a Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), the appointment process cannot be complete and this will create room for someone- more likely to be the deputy regional minister- to act against the wish of the people and to the detriment of development in the area. Mr. Philip Tetteh Padi, Commissioner of Kloma Gbi said “We will resist any such decision and damn the consequences because as indigenes of the area we feel cheated, having dialogued all this while with the relevant authorities without any positive result in our attempt to get them to hold the elections which were suspended as far back as December 2010”. He further added: “It is even more disturbing to note that the authorities don’t seem to appreciate the numerous negative effects of the phenomenon on the development of the area and the even more pressing need to fill the empty assembly to facilitate the selection process. As it stands now, we want nothing but the conduct of elections to bring the Municipal Assembly back onto the rail; otherwise we will be compelled to do as other youth will do”. More than two years after the conduct of the elections across the country (Halfway through the four year term of the assemblies) and nearly one year after the resolution by the Supreme Court of the dispute that caused the suspension of the election, Lower Manya remains the only municipality without assembly members in the country. Currently, the affairs of the Municipal Assembly are managed by an Interim Management Team, a situation that would further worsen without a substantive Chief Executive.