Accra, May 22, GNA - Deputy Mayors would soon be appointed for the 13 newly created Sub-Metropolitan Assemblies in the Accra Metropolis, Nii Stanley Adjiri-Blankson, Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) announced on Friday. He said the move was to deepen and enhance the decentralisation process to engender the smooth running of the Metropolis.

\Mr Adjiri-Blankson was speaking at a reception he hosted for a cross-section of Media Practitioners at his residence at Dansoman in Accra. It was aimed at showing the Mayor's appreciation to the Media for their support and co-operation in whipping up the enthusiasm of Residents of the Metropolis to join the Assembly to lift 25,000 cubic metres of garbage in three cleanup days. The feat should have taken two weeks under normal circumstances. He told the Media Practitioners that he would continue to rely on them for advice, guidance and support, adding, "you will remain my anchor".

Mr Adjiri-Blankson recounted the unsanitary conditions in the Metropolis before his assumption of office, and said it was gratifying to note much had been achieved in the fight to rid the Metropolis of filth - a task he set for himself when he assumed office. He said now that the unsanitary problem within the Metropolis had subsided, he was going to hand over the baton to the Sub-Metros to continue with the fight "to relieve us of filth". Mr Adjiri-Blankson said he was going to shift focus to the mobilization of revenue, because in his view, "AMA is sitting solidly on gold, and it needs just the tools to mine the gold".

The Accra Mayor said if AMA were able to generate enough revenue it would wean itself off Central Government support, adding that the Assembly should rather be bailing out the Central Government out of its financial woes and not the other way round as it is the case now. He said he would also tackle the problem of indiscipline in the Metropolis to build a just and orderly society. Present at the function was Sheikh Ibrahim Codjoe Quaye, Greater-Accra Regional Minister.