Members of the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Assembly (KKMA) have successfully elected Mr William Josiah Nuertey, a government appointee, as presiding member to lead affairs. ? The election was keenly contested, with Mr Nuertey and his contender, Mr Jerry John Adjorlolo, going through four runs of voting before he was given the nod. Officials of the Electoral Commission, who supervised the election, informed the house that failure to elect a presiding member (PM) after the fourth consecutive time would mean that the two would be disqualified to make way for other contenders. The members had earlier failed to elect a PM after two rounds of voting on the Assembly's inauguration day, leading to a reschedule. Mr Nuertey polled 16 votes, while Mr Adjorlolo had 12 votes during the third round, necessitating a fourth round of voting, which saw the winner securing 18 votes while his contender got 10. Ms Eleanor Kakra Barnes-Botchway, the Gbetsile Circuit Court Judge, administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Nuertey to solidify his new position. In his acceptance speech, Mr Nuertey thanked the Assembly for the votes and pledged to work tirelessly for the development of the municipality. He said Kpone-Katamanso was overwhelmed with developmental challenges, which would require unity, a hard-working team, and an effective resource organisation system to address. Speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview, he described the event as very successful, irrespective of the members not being able to elect after three attempts. 'For every good thing, you won't get it so easy; at the end of the day, KKMA is the winner,' he said. He sadded that he would redefine the role of the Assembly members by getting closer to them and sharing ideas for the benefit of Kpone-Katamanso. Source: Ghana News Agency