The Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Dr. Alfred Vanderpuije and his backroom staff at the Assembly have been nailed by a World Bank-funded survey as administrators doing little to better the lot of the territory they are mandated by the state to oversee, that is Ghana's national capital of Accra.

The survey, conducted between the months of October and December, 2009, some 11 months into the J.E.A Mills administration revealed that some residents of the national capital have identified the provision of better places of convenience, improvement in sanitation and drainage as well as refuse and solid waste disposal services as their priorities of concern.

It stated that most residents saw the provision of water, public markets, basic education and poor road infrastructure as their most immediate pressing worries, adding that they believe very little has been done by the Assembly to better their lot.

The survey also found out that even though the AMA has in various directives called for the phasing-out of insanitary toilets like pit and pan latrines, many houses were still using those facilities.

It also revealed how, of the 68 per cent of residents connected to water services in the city, only 15 per cent out of the figure were paying their water bills.

The majority of the residents, the survey found out, were also dissatisfied with market facilities while 66 per cent of residents were uncomfortable with the road networks in their neighbourhoods.

On the unending environmental issue of refuse collection, most residents said a lot of work needs to be done and wondered why, months after the Assembly's demarcation of the capital into zones for refuse collection by other waste companies apart from Zoomlion Ghana, the problem persists.

However, some three quarters of households without home refuse collection were willing to pay for their refuse to be collected by the agencies involved, the survey indicated.

Responding to the survey, the AMA, through its boss Alfred Vanderpuije said the Assembly intends to provide the city with 43 toilet facilities by the end of October to solve some of the sanitary problems, adding that those would be made available only to the public and not households.

He said all landlords and landladies should provide toilet facilities to their tenants to avoid being prosecuted by the AMA because very soon sanitation courts would be established within the metropolis to prosecute offenders of the directive.

He told the media in Accra that the AMA will be making available 5,000 dustbins for distribution to residents through identified refuse collection agencies free of charge.

The AMA, he said is also in the process of paving markets, providing security lighting, proper drainage and sewerage systems as well as ensuring suitable sanitary conditions.

The survey has come at a time when the Assembly is grappling with the broader issue of giving the city a facelift to fit into the government's "Better Ghana" agenda and the AMA's own "Making Accra a Millennium City" tagline.

Titled "Consultative Citizens Report Card", it was conducted by Instinct Media, a fully integrated communications company.

According to the World Bank, the survey was to collate views of residents on the performance of the AMA's administration, to enable the city authorities carry out their statutory obligations efficiently for the greater gain of the people in the city and Ghana as a whole.

Some 4,000 (4.4%) households from an estimated population pool of 3.5 million were interviewed during the period under consideration.

Dr. Vanderpuje took office as Chief Executive of the Assembly amidst great expectations, but so far the tally card has not been that impressive:

• Street lights do not work at many intersections/junctions and it is often left to unemployed youths wielding twigs, not AMA staff to stem the chaos that develop at such junctions and intersections

• People still block roads with impunity for social functions

• Public transport system (especially tro-tro and taxis) still remains indisciplined and uncontrollable

• Churches and drinking bars disturb residential areas with loud music at all hours

• Kiosks are still springing up all over the city engulfing even some prime rate areas like the Airport Residential Area..., etc.

In other others, there has been no qualitative difference between the Adjiri Blankson Assembly and the Alfred Vanderpuije Assembly.

That in effect, is what the report is telling the residents of Accra. Successive governments since independence have not had that much success of managing the national capital either.

The Kufuor Administration (2001-2009), overwhelmed by it all decided to create a Ministry of Tourism and Modernization of the National Capital.

The current chairman of the NPP, Jake Obetsebe-Lamptey was the first occupant of that office.

By the time he left office, the national capital had nothing new to bequeath Dr. Alfred Vanderpuije.

And if the World Bank survey is anything to go by, he may equally have nothing new to bequeath his successor...