The timely intervention of the police prevented what could have passed for a free for all as the aggrieved nominees sought answers to the circumstances surrounding the deletion of their names.

In their outrage, some of the nominees armed themselves with chairs and hurled them at persons they suspected to be behind their missing names.

It all began around 1:30 p.m. when the Metropolitan Coordinating Director, Mr Samuel Ayeh-Dateh, began a roll call of the representatives of the council of the 10 sub-metros.

The most affected sub-metro was Ashiedu Keteke, where most of the nominees did not find their names. It took the police 30 minutes to restore calm for the programme to continue.

One council member who refused to give his name explained that they believed that the replacement of names was due to the upcoming election for sub-metro chairmen.

“The council members in every sub-metro are the ones to vote for the position of the sub-metro chairmen, so it was obvious why these actions were taken,” he said.

The Public Relations officer of AMA, Numo Blafo III, explained that there were some omissions of the names, but gave assurances that the issue would be resolved.

Inauguration

When the dust finally settled, the event continued with the swearing in of 176 council members of the 10 sub-metros by a Circuit Court Judge, Mr Aboagye Tandoh.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Ishmael Ashitey, spoke after the swearing in and asked the newly inducted councillors to establish strong and resilient sub-structures that would help ensure effective implementation of the decentralisation process.

He said the Legislative Instrument (LI) 2223 directed them to promote and safeguard public health, be responsible for the management of waste and prohibit the erection of stalls not designated.

Mr Ashitey also asked them to develop strategies that would facilitate their revenue mobilisation.

“Although the internally generated revenue of AMA has been improving progressively, much more remains to be done to tap the huge potential that exists. This, therefore, rests on you the councillors to think outside the box and come up with innovative ways to collect revenue for the Assembly,” he urged.

He also advised them to strictly supervise the operations of various contractors and agencies involved in waste disposal and enforce the sanitation bye-law.