African countries urged to adopt good city management practices
Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), has called on African leaders to adopt good city management practices to enhance development and technological advancement.
He said they should also move away from the old ways doing things and focus on best practices for the formulation and implementation of policies to make cities in Africa better places to live.
Dr Vanderpuije made the call when a delegation of military officers, led by Colonel Joseph Muzvidziwa, Commandant of the Zimbabwe Armed Forces Staff College, visited the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to learn and develop skills and opportunities to manage security challenges.
The visit also afforded them the opportunity to examine how nations’ survive and reduce the damage caused by natural disasters and their adverse effects on socio-economic development.
Dr Vanderpuije said many African countries were struggling with climate change and terrorism, adding: ”we cannot deal effectively with such situations without the involvement of the security agents,’’ he said.
Dr Vanderpuije reminded the officers that the days are gone when you find soldiers only in their barracks, adding; ’’come out to join the people for community development so that they will feel your presence.”
He said it had become necessary now to find ways of promoting community cohesion, reforming government’s agencies and improving the physical, socio-cultural and economic conditions to enhance the health and education of the population.
Col. Muzvidziwa expressed satisfaction of AMA’s resilience strategies addressing both stresses and shocks that occurred in Accra.
He said the presentations enabled the officers to confirm that developing proactive and integrated plans was expedient for economic development and social justice.
“This should not be done without a real participatory and decentralised approach of the security agencies and focus on citizens’ livelihoods improvement,’’ he said.
He appealed to the AMA to develop activities on exchange visit to assess their progress while sharing knowledge among two Staff Colleges.
Source: GNA