Features
Examining the ‘conduct’ of 2 new DCEs
The Government just released the much awaited list of 260 nominees for the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive positions across the country.
By law, their confirmation by their respective Assemblies will qualify them to assist President Akufo-Addo to govern the country at the local government level.
Mr. Lawrence Edutuah-Asiaw is now the newly installed District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District in the Central Region.
Mr Edutuah-Asiaw delivered an emotional speech after his confirmation at the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District Assembly Hall.
His speech, reportedly touched the hearts of many people in the Assembly Hall, thus, moving some to tears.
He said when his name was announced as the nominated DCE of the area, he heard some people saying: “His mother is a beggar and for that matter, he does not deserve the DCE position.”
He stated; “because of politics people who have no idea about my upbringing, are saying my mother begs for food to feed herself and her children and questioned the basis of my appointment.”
A graduate with a degree in Education, Mr Edutuah-Asiaw said, a lot of people expressed reservations about the sour comments made by such people about his appointment.
According to 29-year-old Edutuah-Asiaw, he was rather inspired by such comments , “because if a beggar’s son can be elevated to such a position, by the grace of God, then truly there is nothing impossible for ‘the living God’.”
He said; “in life, God prepares people to shine lights in your path, and my mother is one shining example of a person who moved all odds to ensure that l received what she was not privileged to have, ” adding that; “that is the essence of humanity.”
Mr Edutuah-Asiaw pledged : “I will not disappoint my mother, myself, the President and the entire District for this honour done me,” stressing; ” I will serve the District with all the energy God has gifted me.”
He expressed his gratitude to all the people who played various roles in nominating and consequently confirming him as the new DCE of the District.
Mr Edutuah-Asiaw was among 22 aspirants in the District who were interviewed for the position of DCE of the area.
Some of the spectators who witnessed his confirmation gathered in small groups after the ceremony; with some whispering intently: “Who Jah bless, no one curse.
“Impossible is not a ring-tone of God; the future is unknown for all humans and it is not only the rich ones who must attract the eyes of God.”
All the 46 members of the Assembly voted “YES” to confirm Edutuah-Asiaw as the new DCE, thus, exceeding the two- thirds legal minimum requirement.
On Friday, October 1, 2021, the President’s nominee for the position of DCE in the Nanumba South District, Mr Issifu Zakaria was also reportedly confirmed by the 40-member District Assembly.
He obtained 28 YES-votes against 12 NO-votes, representing 70 per cent of the required votes to be approved.
Shortly after his confirmation, however, Mr Issifu Zakaria and his supporters allegedly seized the official vehicle of the Assembly which was being occupied by the out-going DCE who witnessed the ceremony.
Reportedly, the outgoing DCE was forced out of the vehicle and his belongings thrown out for the new DCE to take over the vehicle.
Eyewitnesses claimed, the outgoing DCE was left stranded and helpless until a Good Samaritan arranged for a private car to take him home.
It is said that “failure is an orphan” while “success even attracts very distant relatives.” Because the outgoing DCE was not re-nominated by the President, he has suddenly become an orphan while the new DCE is attracting more and more ‘distant relatives’ he hardly knows.
Some of the spectators who witnessed the embarrassing scene reportedly remarked; ” it is unfortunate the new DCE acted the way he did, disgracing the outgoing DCE who attended the ceremony to help confirm him as his successor.
“The new DCE acted without regard to formal ways of doing things. Is the vehicle not supposed to be handed over officially to him?
“If the seizure of the vehicle is an aspect of Mr Zakaria’s leadership style, then Nanumba South District will soon be plunged into chaos.
“Is it not the same Zakaria who led demonstrations in the aftermath of the NPP 2020 parliamentary primaries at Wulensi, leading to destruction of the party’s office and the party’s pick-up vehicle; because his preferred candidate failed to win the primaries? “
Wikipedia defines ‘conduct’ as the manner of guiding or carrying oneself; personal deportment; mode of action and mode of behaviour. In effect, ‘conduct’ means a person’s behaviour, especially from the standpoint of morality and ethics.
Readers, from the foregoing, while the ‘conduct’ of Edutuah-Asiaw deserves commendation, the ‘conduct’ of Issifu Zakaria must be immediately and urgently investigated by the government.
It is by proper and thorough investigation that the truth of the matter will be established.
And if found culpable, this column strongly recommends that Mr. Zakaria must be severely sanctioned to serve as deterrent to other new DCEs who are cast in his “terrible mould.”
Contact email / WhatsApp of the author :
asmahfrankg@gmail.com ( 0505556179)
——END——
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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