The office of the Kumasi Mayor, Hon. Osei Assibey Antwi, vehemently rejects a defamatory report, which seeks to tarnish his hard-won positive image.

The negative reportage is attributed to the Founder and Leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Mr. Akwasi Addai aka ‘Odike’.

The abusive report is captioned ‘Kumasi Mayor is Weak, He is not Cut for the Job’. It has gone viral on several social media portals, so far.

Odike, in the news item, blatantly lied that Hon. Osei Assibey is weak and so he cannot deal with the hawkers, who are trading in the streets of Kumasi.

Setting The Records Straight

It must be emphasized that the report is laden with palpable falsehoods and inaccuracies, manufactured by Odike to dent the mayor’s image.

For the records, Hon. Osei Asibey is not a weak person as Odike’s fictitious and ill-motive statement seeks to suggest to the public.

There is no doubt that Hon. Osei Assibey is a God-fearing and down-to-earth person, who accommodates all manner of people.

But being a nice person doesn’t mean that the Kumasi Mayor is weak as Odike, who clearly has a fiendish agenda against Hon. Osei Assibey, is trying to portray.

Hon. Osei Assibey, without doubt, is a strong, visionary and proactive person, who has the wherewithal to effectively deal with the hawkers’ menace in the city.

But the Kumasi Mayor believes that the hawkers are human beings so it is not proper for the KMA to sack them from the streets and make them jobless.

The KMA has therefore drawn a plan to properly relocate the hawkers from the streets to the refurbished Race Course, starting from Monday, November 6.

From all indications, Odike seems not to understand the Local Government system, especially, what it takes to manage a boisterous city like Kumasi.

It is important for the UPP leader to understand that the NPP administration believes and respects all manner of people, regardless of their backgrounds.

In this regard, Hon. Osei Assibey, who is an appointee of President Akufo-Addo cannot, and will not, take the law into his hands and abuse innocent hawkers.

Odike must also understand that the Kumasi Mayor does not report to him so he cannot dictate to Hon. Osei Assibey, regarding he should manage the city.

Achievements

Again, Odike should understand that Hon. Osei Assibey has started well as he is on the right track to develop Kumasi and make it a better a place.

Within a spate of about six months, the Kumasi Mayor has worked to ensure that all the structures in the assembly have been properly positioned.

Hon. Osei Assibey, who is a luminary in the local governance system, has also ensured good governance and transparency at the assembly, so far.

Under his able leadership, Kumasi is making giant strides in restoring its lost Garden City of West Africa status, once again.

He is the first mayor of Kumasi, who personally leads a team to clean the city at night when other residents of the city are asleep in their homes.

Hon. Osei Assibey’s few months in office has also boosted the security situation in the region as incidence of robberies and thefts have sharply reduced.

The Kumasi Mayor, who cares about the environment, had also started a major tree planting project, with aim of making Kumasi looked green and beautiful.

Within his short stay in office, all the loopholes at the revenue collection points at the KMA had been tightened to help protect the KMAs purse.

He has also introduced new policies and programmes, which are geared towards making the KMA more efficient and productive.

The proactive-mayor has, within some few months, worked to awaken virtually all the collapsed sister-city relations at the assembly, among other achievements.

The Kumasi Mayor has also worked to fix all the damaged street lights in the city, which has gone a long way to make Kumasi look beautiful at night.

Hon. Osei Assibey has chalked immense successes within a short time so it was therefore not a surprise when the Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC) showered praises at him at the Manhyia Palace, recently.

In conclusion, Odike should know that the good people of Kumasi, including even the respected Kumasi chiefs, appreciates Hon. Osei Assibey’s splendid works so he (Odike’s) pull-him-down attitude will not work.

Odike should also be aware that Hon. Osei Assibey is on top of his job and he will surely deliver to the satisfaction of the people of Kumasi, irrespective of Odike’s diabolic and distractive actions.