The Techiman Municipal Assembly in the Bono East Region on Tuesday, failed to elect a Presiding Member for the Assembly again.

The 45-member assembly, comprising 32 elected Assembly Members and 13 government appointees, had on two elections conducted by the Electoral Commission failed to elect the PM to steer its affairs.

At an emergency meeting held in Techiman, none of the two contestants was able to secure the required two-third votes to become the PM.

In the first round of voting, Mr Isaac Frimpong, a government appointee obtained 25 votes while his only contender Mr Issah Adams, the Assemblyman for Kenten Electoral Area had 18 votes. One member, however, refused to cast his ballot.

The second round of voting saw Mr Frimpong securing 25 votes, with Mr Adams having 19 votes. With those results, the contestants are, however, disqualified to contest the position, according to the Local Government Act.

In an interview with the media, Mr Benjamin Yaw Gyarko, the Techiman Municipal Chief Executive expressed disappointment about the assembly's inability to elect a PM, a situation he added had slowed down the progress of the assembly.

He expressed worry that some of the assembly members had taken entrenched positions, basically on partisan lines, just to 'frustrate' the Assembly activities.

Mr Gyarko said the situation at the assembly now had impeded development efforts, and therefore urged the assembly members to consider the development of the Municipality and bury their differences.

He said the absence of a PM had made it difficult for the assembly to facilitate the socio-economic development of the area and urged the assembly members to think about that too.

Sompaonline.com/K Peprah