Accra Mayor needs our support
Just before the recently held World Conference of Mayors in Accra, I had decided to tackle the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, for mounting huge billboards across the city to celebrate his accomplishment as the Best Mayor in Africa.
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I later abandoned the idea because I could not get substantial evidence that he used the assembly's resources to undertake that venture. However, the tragic event that occured last Wednesday has undermined the award bestowed on Mr Vanderpuiye.
Each billboard, I learnt from an executive member of the Advertisers Association of Ghana, costs between GH¢20,000 and Gh¢30,000.
This has sparked agitation that he should resign because of the calamity that has befallen Accra and the nation in general.
I was among the numerous city dwellers who got very excited after the appointment of Mr Vanderpuiye as the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).This is because of his background as a ‘been-to’ with vast experience in school and city planning/administration, while working as an administrator of schools in the United States of America for 26 good years.
At the time of his appointment, my boss, the late Mrs Margaret Safo, one of Mr Vanderpuiye's admirers, asked me to seek audience with him for an interview for the personality profile column in The Mirror.
I succeeded and had the interview with Mr Vanderpuiye, which covered a wide range of issues as well as his seven-pronged vision for the capital city.
I remember that in that interview, Mr Vanderpuiye, with double royal lineage (Otublohum and Edina) and a world view on the development of modern cities, told me he had practical involvement in transforming some of the world’s known cities during his sojourn in the USA.
He specifically mentioned Columbia in South Carolina; Kansas City in Kansas; and Rockford in Illinois, among others.
With these credentials, there was no doubt that he had what it takes to change the face of Accra, which he promised to do with utmost diligence.
I have been following the exploits of Mr Vanderpuiye keenly and can conveniently say that for the past six years that he has served as the Chief Executive, to a large extent, he has done a yeoman's job by abolishing the school shift system in the metropolis, which hitherto provided the leeway for some schoolchildren to play truant.
In place of the shift system he expanded some school infrastructure by transforming some wretched and dilapidated school buildings into first class learning centres with modern equipment and facilities. Examples of such schools abound in the metropolis.
However, Mr Vanderpuiye has been so disappointing with his handling of issues that border on the cleanliness, congestion and fragmented development of the city which he promised to use his leadership, as well as a four-year master plan to address.
He tried to execute his agenda but along the line there were some discomfort at the corridors of power and a gauntlet was thrown in his spokes and since then he had been wavering and therefore achieved very little in that direction.
From the look of things Mr Vanderpuiye when given the opportunity and the free hand to operate can still do better but for the interference from the powers that be. I pity him for the huge hurdles he had to overcome in order to ensure that his vision for Accra is accomplished.
I think what is pissing Ghanaians calling for the head of Mr Vanderpuiye off is the impunity with which he blows his own trumpet. He keeps celebrating his mediocre accomplishment when actually nothing is seen on the ground.
From the foregoing I believe the challenges confronting Accra are not peculiar to the tenure of Mr Vanderpuiye and that it dates back to the pre independence era.
We must bear with the AMA boss and his lieutenants because with our support they will surmount the challenge.