<<Print>>

A five-member committee is to investigate renovation works at the residence of Madam Fafa Adinyira, Ho Municipal Chief Executive. This followed management�s inability to convince an emergency meeting of the assembly, at some which members questioned the renovation, done without due process. Some assembly members last week raised alarm over the renovation, and petitioned the presiding member to summon an emergency meeting on the issue. Madam Adinyira told the meeting that no contract had been awarded for the renovation of her residence, and that she only instructed the assembly�s works engineer to carry out an assessment on the building for action later. She also denied awarding the refurbishment of her office on contract and said, �I only bought an orthopedic chair and some simple curtains to suit me. �I don�t like sophistication. I sit on orthopedic chair for health reasons. I bought most of the things myself,� Madam Adinyira added. Mr Yao Semordey, presiding member of the assembly, said the issue was murky, because while management of the assembly denied awarding contract for the job, some assembly members maintained that trips of sand and blocks were being conveyed to the site where two contractors were allegedly working. He said the committee would, therefore, help the assembly to unravel circumstances leading to the removal of the entire roof, tiles and electrical installations at the MCE�s residence. Mr Ransford Delali Kasu, assemblyman for Klefe, said it was the duty of the assembly to ensure the safety of the MCE, and that the assembly was not happy about the neglect of laid down procedures. He said the assembly had no budget for the renovation of the MCE�s residence, and lamented that some school blocks and clinics would be sacrificed for that project. �No one is against development or the MCE. These things have implications for development. We must make sure that the common fund benefits the ordinary person, and is not used for one person�s comfort,� Mr Kasu said. Mr Courage Danku, assemblyman for Sokode-Gborgame, said it was unfortunate that the assembly always complained of no money to fix defects on the roads and poor sanitation in Ho. He asserted that the assembly had not executed any projects from its own resources in the last four years, describing it as �worrying�. Mr Kodzo Dey, assemblyman for Ho-Dome, said it was wrong for Madam Adinyira to purchase items for her office when she was not the procurement officer. The assembly was polarised during the debate which was full of hot exchanges. It, however, agreed that the purported assessment being done by the Works Department of the assembly continue alongside the investigations. When the GNA visited the MCE�s residence, it found trips of sand, bags of cement and cement blocks but there was no contractor at work.