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The President of IMANI Ghana has called for the resignation of the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, following the floods and fire which claimed the lives of over 150 people on Wednesday.
According to the IMANI boss, the Mayor has overseen too many “mishaps” which had made his position untenable.
“I have reached that limit where I think the Accra Mayor really has to bow out. I would be ashamed if I were the son of the Accra Mayor, having seen a series of mishaps,” he said on Citi FM’s, The Big Issue on Saturday.
There have been several calls over the years for the Mayor to step down from office with suggestions that his administration has been unable to deal with the capital city’s perennial problems, including the flooding and outbreak of cholera.
Franklin Cudjoe pointed out that the billboard in Accra congratulating the Mayor and which has since become a source of ridicule for his critics, remained intact despite the widespread destruction caused by the floods.
“The annoying thing is the fact that those structures erecting his awards in the middle of this chaos stood after the rains. They were probably the only ones well constructed probably because they were effigies of his awards.”
Franklin Cudjoe advised the AMA to accept the responsibility of failing to effectively mange the city’s flooding problems and step aside as it was the ‘civilized’ thing to do.
“Responsibility is a very important matter and he should be ashamed. One of the avenues to expressing angst is when we have this mayor leaving the scene. When he does that, it sends signals to his bosses that he has reached his wits end and it will be enough opportunity for them to get something done.
Several people who have come to the Mayor’s defence have cited political interference as one of the reasons why the problems in Accra persist.
According to them, the Mayor is unable to take stringent measures to curb the situation as they are often vetoed by the political elite, leaving the mayor to bear the brunt of public criticism.
However, Franklin Cudjoe stated that this was not enough reason for the Mayor to stay in his position
He said: “You hear about political interference. Maybe it is a factor but I think that at this stage there have been too many of these mishaps that I think he should bow out. That is what everyone does in a civilized state, just bow out.”
Source: GhanaWeb