Should Vanderpuije Continue to be the Mayor of Accra?

I am a little bit concerned about the erratic behavior of the mayor of Accra, and I think he should be removed from his position . Almost every news item about Alfred Vanderpuije is bad news so I wonder why he is still the mayor. The other day, it was his body guard firing a bullet into a citizen's auto tires (tyres) in traffic. The mayor denied that he ordered his body guard to shoot the tires of Mr. Bruce Thompson. Surprisingly, the mayor did not condemn the body guard nor did he suggest firing the body guard. Any responsible person will condemn a body guard who fires a gun at a public place because the bullet could have killed some people.


A few weeks before that incident, the mayor was caught on tape physically accosting a commercial driver for tooting his horn whilst some people were cleaning the streets. This mayor ordered all the passengers in the commercial vehicle out of the vehicle and left them stranded by the roadside. Clearly, he disrupted the activities of those citizens, many of whom might have been on their way to their jobs. In a democratic society, if a motorist breaks traffic regulation that person should be arrested or ticketed by the police but should not be physically manhandled by a mayor. Obviously, the mayor is a coward hence he surrounds himself with police officers when molesting citizens.





In September 2014, the Accra mayor caused the arrest of a TV crew member from the Multimedia Group as the team filmed visuals of squatters, rendered homeless by a demolition exercise undertaken by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly at a slum behind the Arts Centre. What right has Alfred Vanderpuije to deny Ghanaian viewers the right to view the plight of other Ghanaians? What right has he got to cause the arrest of journalists doing their job? When he was asked about the arrest, his explanation was abysmal. He said he caused the arrest of the TV crew because the crew was stage-managing its report. According to the mayor, the crew asked the displaced people to lie on the streets to be videotaped. If that was true, then the mayor did not use his gumption when he reacted to the scenario. He could have videotaped the crew in action to expose them to the whole world. That is how law-abiding officials operate; no, not per brute force.


Not only is Alfred Vanderpuije uncouthed, he is not able to take advantage of glaring opportunities. Presently, Alfred Vanderpuije has "vowed to be merciless with classroom Churches", to use his own words. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) under Mayor Alfred Vanderpuije has ordered all Churches that worship in Accra school classrooms to stop worshiping in such classrooms. His reason is laughable. According to him, the Churches destroy school infrastructure. This mayor has no business sense, not at all. A business-savvy mayor will capitalize on the situation to raise money for the schools. In the first place, the Churches should be charged fees to use the classrooms thus raising money for Accra schools. Secondly, the Churches should be required to sign lease agreements in which all furniture in the rooms and their conditions are listed. That means, the Churches would be held responsible if they destroy any furniture. Now, I know why Ghana keeps sinking: instead of appointing business-savvy people to run affairs we appoint business destroyers.


Talking about business sense, I am not surprised that the same AMA tore down billboards mounted in Accra on behalf of some Nigerian political parties. This money generating venture has been killed by incompetent Alfred Vanderpuije and his Assembly. We should remember that these billboards are privately owned and maintained by Ghanaians. That means, the government represented by Alfred Vanderpuije has deprived some Ghanaians of their income. In addition, AMA collects fees when billboards go up but irrationality is causing AMA some revenue.


I challenge the mayor to implement projects that generate funds for the community instead of harassing the inhabitants of Accra. If he decides to continue assaulting Ghanaians, he should do so without any police protection; he should not use people paid by the tax payers to intimidate the tax payers


Kwaku Obosu-Mensah


komensah@hotmail.com