Oko Vanderpuje shortlisted for Best African Mayor Award
Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, has been selected among other two cities for the Best African Mayor Award slated for April 30, in Angola.
The other two cities are Cape Town in South Africa, and Dakar in Senegal.
They were selected in recognition of their outstanding contributions towards development visions for their communities.
Dr Vanderpuije who made this known in an interview with Ghana News Agency, said the award dubbed: “The Jose Eduado dos Santos African Mayor Award” would be hosted by President Jose Eduado dos Santos of Angola.
He said the ceremony coincide with the 2nd Africa Urban Infrastructure Investment Forum to be held in Luanda.
He said the selection of the mayors were done by a five-member expert panel of judges chaired by Mr Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, General Secretary of United Cities and Local Governments – Africa (UCLG-A).
Other members of the panel are Mr Tokunbo Omisore, Chairman of the African Union of Architects, Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, Assistant Secretary General UN-Habitat, Victor Leonel Miguel, Chairman of the Angolan Architects Union and Gaetan Siew, Chairman, Construction Industry Sector of Mauritius.
Dr Vanderpuiye said the winner of the award with about one million population or more in the city would take home 200,000 dollars, while less than one million and more than 200,000 population would also receive 100,000 dollars and a community with up to 200,000 residents would receive 50,000 dollars.
He enumerated some of the international recognitions that Accra had won under his leadership as the President of the Global Alliance of Mayors, “100 Resilient Cities Award” pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomber Initiative for Global Road Safety.
“Other awards received by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly were IBM SMART CITY Award, Accra selected among five cities with high scores in sanitation and environmental management by the UN Climate Change Conference, Accra cited as the 4th out 46 places in the world and recommended for business and tourist destination,” he said.
Dr Vanderpuiye said all these recognitions were achieved because of the AMA’s implementation of its ambitious plans on education, sanitation, health, and the public-private-partnership arrangements.
Source: GNA