Members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) have confirmed Mr Sam Pyne as the new mayor of the metropolis.

The voting was done on Tuesday, 5 October 2021.

Fifty-eight out of the 60 assembly members took part in the vote.

Fifty-five of them endorsed Mr Pyne.

Only three voted against him.

A day ahead of the voting, President Nana Akufo-Addo said it will be unfair for members of the Assembly to reject his nominee over past debts of the KMA.

The assembly members, according to presiding member Stephen Ofori, threatened to reject Mr Pyne if the Assembly’s GHS50 million debt was not cleared.

However, President Akufo-Addo told Pure FM in Kumasi on Monday, 4 October 2021 that using the debt to hold Mr Pyne to ransom will be unfair.

The president said the “mayor-nominee didn’t bring the cost at the assembly”.

“They shouldn’t make him a victim of the past”, he noted.

In the president’s view, “they should approve him so we can bring a solution to these so-called debts”.

“We’ve seen it in several areas. When he comes, we’ll look into it to ascertain the veracity of the debts and find a solution to it”, the president added.

He urged the assembly members not to “hold up Kumasi executives because of the past”.

“That is not the way to go about it”, he advised, insisting: “The proper way to go about it is: after they approve him, they demand of him to bring a solution”.

The Kumasi High Court granted an order to FREDCO FD Company Limited, a subcontractor of the KMA, to sell the Assembly’s administration block to defray the GHS 50 million judgment debt.