Accra mayor, Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, has revealed it had always been his dream to become the AMA boss.

He said his dream was born out of his passion to see the beauty and charm of the city he saw as a child.

Vanderpuije, who was a guest on Starr Chat with Bola Ray on Wednesday, recounted how his father, a Ga Chief, woke them up at 4am and took them round houses in the central Accra community as they greeted and checked on the welfare of people in their homes.

According to him, “we would walk from Mamprobi through Zion through Korle Gornor and we would cross the Korley Lagoon.”

He said in “those days, it was just lovely seeing the Korley Lagoon. The lights and oo, it didn’t smell like it does now. It was just lovely.”

But the mayor said he now bleeds at the city he sees.

“By our acts of indiscipline we have reduced the lagoon to a state that is so appalling. There is so much indiscipline in the country, there is indiscipline in our dear nation.

“… There used be a time when we use to have boats on the Korle Lagoon, we should work to bring all that back,” he appealed.

Vanderpuije won the inaugural edition of the prestigious President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos African Mayor Awards.

The award ceremony which was held on Thursday April 30, 2015 in Luanda, Angola as part of the 2nd Africa Urban Infrastructure Investment Forum, saw Accra emerge as the winner in the Large Cities category with contenders including Cape Town in South Africa and Dakar in Senegal.

The award includes a trophy designed by a distinguished Angolan artist, a certificate and a cash prize of 200,000 dollars.

When asked why he had a billboard erected as a tribute for winning the award, despite criticisms that he did not deserve it, Mr. Vanderpuije explained:

“I don’t think that award was to send a message that everything we had done in Accra was excellent. It suggested a number of things, that it is good to have a mayor who analyses situations, provides solutions and goes ahead to advocate for those solutions to be implemented.”

Mr. Vanderpuije said he is proud of his progress so far as a mayor and is not thinking of backing down until his duty is over.

“I drive through the City at dawn, I see how clean it is and it’s such a joy.”