Accra, May 5, GNA - Members of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), have been urged to confirm Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuige, President John Atta Mills' nominee for the position of Metropolitan Chief Executive, to give direction for the development of Accra.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Daniel Nii Okai, Chairman of the Odododiodioo Constituency of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), noted that the nation's capital was confronted with a number of problems, which must be tackled immediately to give meaning to the status of Accra as the gateway to the country. Mr Okai, who is also a government appointee of the Assembly, identified the problems confronting the city to include sanitation and environmental health, vehicular and human traffic especially in the central business district leading to congestion and job creation for the youth.

He said Accra needed a Chief Executive, who would initiate and implement programmes and plans to make the capital a modern city to attract investors and tourists.

Mr Okai expressed the belief that Dr Vanderpuige with his credentials and experience as a public school administrator in the United States, would lead in the efforts to solve the problems of the capital.

He appealed to his fellow Assembly Members to give Dr Vanderpuige the nod since President Mills is a meticulous person, who would not nominate someone who could not live up to expectation. Mr Okai noted that the administrative and organisational competence of the President's nominee could not be in doubt since apart from being a school administrator, he was also the Coordinator of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the United States and North America as well as the Director of Communication and Youth Affairs of the Southern Ghana Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

He reminded members of the AMA about the non-partisan principle underlining the country's local government structure and appealed to them to put their political affiliations aside and confirm the President's nominee based on his competence and experience to become the Mayor of Accra.