Call for Okoe Vanderpuije’s resignation is misplaced -Hon Ibrahim Ahmed
The Member of Parliament for Banda, Hon Ibrahim Ahmed, who is also the Second Deputy Majority Chief Whip of parliament, has stated that the calls for the resignation of the Accra Mayor, Mr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, due to the recent flooding of Accra just a year after the June 3 disaster is misplaced.
According to him, he does not agree with the manner in which people are handling this flood issue and blaming the Mayor for it. He pointed out that Accra has been planned many years ago and one cannot just change it within a short period, noting that, “There are certain physical structures you cannot change overnight.” The call for the resignation of the mayor resurfaced when few days after reassuring the country that measures have been put in place to ensure that the city does not flood again, the city got flooded. The mayor at the first anniversary to commemorate the June 3 disaster emphatically stated that “With the constant de-silting, clean ups and various renovations ongoing, I am certain such an incident would never repeat itself again.”
Leading the charge for the mayor’s resignation are the People’s National Convention (PNC), IMANI Ghana, and Professional Patriots Ghana (PPG).
According to the Director of Communication for PNC, Emmanuel Wilson, the Mayor has overseen too many misfortunes which had made his position untenable and therefore the only option left for him is to resign and save the city and by extension, the country.
Though the Christian Council did not call for the Mayor’s resignation, they demanded that politicians desist from promising Ghanaians of preventing another June 3 disaster as the June 9 downpour indicated clearly their inability to handle the situation as it got worse. The June 9 rains rendered many properties around the Kwame Nkrumah circle, Airport residential area, Alajo and Teshie-Nungua to be submerged in flood.
Last year, a gas explosion at the Goil Filling Station caused by torrential rains led to the loss of lives of 200 Ghanaians. The incidents also exposed the weakness of Accra's infrastructure which has failed to keep pace with population growth after years of rapid economic expansion. The disaster triggered outrage among section of the public and prompted widespread calls for Mr. Vanderpuije to resign over what some critics said was his incompetence. But the mayor has said that he does not owe victims of the devastating June 3 Accra floods any apology but rather his support to ensure that the disaster does not recur.
Hon Ahmed, pointed out that there is the need for the country to find the actual solution to the flooding issue than to blame the mayor because there was evidence that the Assembly has embarked on a 24 hours de-silting project on both the Korle lagoon and the Odow river, which has so far reached 45% of the total work that needs to be done and generating about 420,000 metric tonnes of filth. He indicated that one of the surest ways to help the city authorities to address this flooding issue is to take politics out of it.
He noted that city authorities have been heavily criticized for undertaking decongestion and demolition exercises to free water ways and also to properly plan the city. “You remember the famous incident at Adjei Kojo. The people did not have permit and have built there and when the city authorities tried to demolish their structures there was public outcry. People, including the opposition asked that the people should be left alone and rather be regularized into the system. City authorities are accused of not being sensitive to the plight of the people and not approaching these exercises with a human face. But these are the same situations that eventually lead to flooding of the city.
The first flood nearly took away Hon Freda Akosua Prempeh, Member of Parliament for Tano North, and now she is an advocate for decongestion and demolitions. Flooding does not know any political colour,” he said.
Hon Ahmed pointed out that the flooding issues of Accra are multi-sectoral and goes beyond the mayor alone. He said the Ministries of Transport, Environment, Local Government, Works and Housing, the Ghana Meteorological Service, all have roles to play in addressing the perennial flooding issues of Accra.
He believes Mr. Vanderpuye is the best Mayor that Ghana has had within the Fourth Republican dispensation. “If I am to judge the performance of Mayors, Chief Executives and Metropolitan Chief Executives in the country within this Fourth Republican dispensation, I would say that Okoe Vanderpuije is the best Mayor I have seen. He is a visionary leader who is up and doing. He knows what he is about and doing it,” he said. He appealed to parliament to pass a law to make loitering a punishable offence. He stressed that this is so important because attitudinal change is another major solution to Accra’s flooding problem.
According to him, he does not agree with the manner in which people are handling this flood issue and blaming the Mayor for it. He pointed out that Accra has been planned many years ago and one cannot just change it within a short period, noting that, “There are certain physical structures you cannot change overnight.” The call for the resignation of the mayor resurfaced when few days after reassuring the country that measures have been put in place to ensure that the city does not flood again, the city got flooded. The mayor at the first anniversary to commemorate the June 3 disaster emphatically stated that “With the constant de-silting, clean ups and various renovations ongoing, I am certain such an incident would never repeat itself again.”
Leading the charge for the mayor’s resignation are the People’s National Convention (PNC), IMANI Ghana, and Professional Patriots Ghana (PPG).
According to the Director of Communication for PNC, Emmanuel Wilson, the Mayor has overseen too many misfortunes which had made his position untenable and therefore the only option left for him is to resign and save the city and by extension, the country.
Though the Christian Council did not call for the Mayor’s resignation, they demanded that politicians desist from promising Ghanaians of preventing another June 3 disaster as the June 9 downpour indicated clearly their inability to handle the situation as it got worse. The June 9 rains rendered many properties around the Kwame Nkrumah circle, Airport residential area, Alajo and Teshie-Nungua to be submerged in flood.
Last year, a gas explosion at the Goil Filling Station caused by torrential rains led to the loss of lives of 200 Ghanaians. The incidents also exposed the weakness of Accra's infrastructure which has failed to keep pace with population growth after years of rapid economic expansion. The disaster triggered outrage among section of the public and prompted widespread calls for Mr. Vanderpuije to resign over what some critics said was his incompetence. But the mayor has said that he does not owe victims of the devastating June 3 Accra floods any apology but rather his support to ensure that the disaster does not recur.
Hon Ahmed, pointed out that there is the need for the country to find the actual solution to the flooding issue than to blame the mayor because there was evidence that the Assembly has embarked on a 24 hours de-silting project on both the Korle lagoon and the Odow river, which has so far reached 45% of the total work that needs to be done and generating about 420,000 metric tonnes of filth. He indicated that one of the surest ways to help the city authorities to address this flooding issue is to take politics out of it.
He noted that city authorities have been heavily criticized for undertaking decongestion and demolition exercises to free water ways and also to properly plan the city. “You remember the famous incident at Adjei Kojo. The people did not have permit and have built there and when the city authorities tried to demolish their structures there was public outcry. People, including the opposition asked that the people should be left alone and rather be regularized into the system. City authorities are accused of not being sensitive to the plight of the people and not approaching these exercises with a human face. But these are the same situations that eventually lead to flooding of the city.
The first flood nearly took away Hon Freda Akosua Prempeh, Member of Parliament for Tano North, and now she is an advocate for decongestion and demolitions. Flooding does not know any political colour,” he said.
Hon Ahmed pointed out that the flooding issues of Accra are multi-sectoral and goes beyond the mayor alone. He said the Ministries of Transport, Environment, Local Government, Works and Housing, the Ghana Meteorological Service, all have roles to play in addressing the perennial flooding issues of Accra.
He believes Mr. Vanderpuye is the best Mayor that Ghana has had within the Fourth Republican dispensation. “If I am to judge the performance of Mayors, Chief Executives and Metropolitan Chief Executives in the country within this Fourth Republican dispensation, I would say that Okoe Vanderpuije is the best Mayor I have seen. He is a visionary leader who is up and doing. He knows what he is about and doing it,” he said. He appealed to parliament to pass a law to make loitering a punishable offence. He stressed that this is so important because attitudinal change is another major solution to Accra’s flooding problem.
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