Anti-corruption campaigner Mr Vitus Azeem
Anti-corruption campaigner and former Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative ( GII) Vitus Azeem has remarked that nominees for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executive (MMDCE) positions who are lobbying and bribing assembly members will recoup their ‘investment’.
Azeem, who is widely respected as an anti-corruption campaigner, made this known on social media following reports of widespread bribing and begging by MMDCE nominees and their supporters in the ongoing confirmation processes.
“Trial of Decentralization: Lobbying, begging, praying on knees and bribing for confirmation. After this, the approved MMDCEs assume power and do what they want and the Assembly members cannot say or do anything,” Mr Azeem said.
MMDCE nominees are expected to get two-thirds of assembly members present and voting in order to qualify to be appointed as substantive MMDCEs.
There have been reports of massive bribing of assembly members so that they can approve the nominees.
An enraged assemblyman in the Tamale Metropolis last week went after his colleagues who despite agreeing to an original plan of taking a Ghc3,000 bribe and voting for the President’s nominee as Metropolitan Chief Executive(MCE) did the contrary.
A brutally honest assemblyman boldly admitted on live radio that prior to the confirmation, they had agreed to each receive Ghc3, 000 in return for an overwhelming endorsement of Sule Salifu as the Mayor of Tamale.
“The nominee went through the processes and was nominated by the President to be the Mayor of Tamale after the assembly was run without one exposing local governance to a myriad of challenges. Following his nomination, there was the need for us to hasten things and support for work in the assembly to begin. Even though the nominee was confirmed that was not the agreed number of votes he was supposed to have gotten. If you are a human being try as much as possible to eschew lies. Every assembly member promised to vote for him only for some to betray him”, he swore.