KOFI GHANA MAKES GHANA PROUD

Ghanaian Chronicle
July 15, 2004

Sebastian R. Freiku
Kumasi

MR. MAXWELL Kofi Jumah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), has unanimously been awarded the prestigious Nobles International Award for 2004.

The West African International, the leading pan-West African magazine and West Africa Nobles Forum, which nominated the Kumasi mayor for this year's award, is organizing the programmes billed to take place at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) on September 9, 2004.

The award is conferred on men and women of integrity and prominent personalities, whose selfless efforts in their chosen fields of endeavour have earned them recognition beyond the shores of their respective countries.

A letter dated June 17, 2004 and signed by the Managing Director of West African International, Rev. Dee Otibu-Asare, in communicating his nomination, described Jumah, also known as Kofi Ghana, as an embodiment of courage, steadfastness, hard work, integrity and foresight, which sterling qualities were noted to have endeared him, not only to Ghanaians, but the entire people of Africa.

The award is also for the mayor's leadership qualities, transparent and prudent management of men and resources.

Jumah's acceptance of this prestigious award also qualifies him as an automatic member of the West Africa Nobles Forum, a forum of eminent men and women in West Africa.

Last year, the awards ceremony was held in Lome, Togo.

Past Ghanaian recipients of the awards by West African International, which has its corporate headquarters in Accra, include John Tettegah, a renowned trade unionist; Prof. Kofi Awoonor, international poet and university don; Dr. Felix Anyah, Medical Director of Holy Trinity Clinic; Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Chief Executive of the Korle Bu Hospital in Accra; Mr. Ernest Bediako-Sarpong, proprietor of Ernest Chemists; Michael Agyekum Addo, CEO of KAMA Group of Companies and Alhaji Asoma Banda, Chairman, Antrak Airlines.

Maxwell Kofi Jumah, 54, is a trained planner from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and was the President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) in 1972.

He continued to New York in 1975 after graduation and enrolled at the Graduate School of Management of Rutgers University. On securing his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in 1984, he was hired by William Paterson College as adjunct Professor for Business Statistics and Management and later joined the Newark Board of Education as Coordinator of training and Director of Business Operations in 1990.

The Kufuor-led NPP Administration appointed him as the Chief Executive Officer of KMA in May 2001.

In the saddle as mayor, Jumah portrayed commendable patriotic and innovative instincts. Announcing his vision, he promised to change Kumasi and improve on the quality of the people's life, in line with his government's policy of positive change.

Among his major achievements as mayor is the establishment of a direct link with the mayor of Almere City in Holland, from which the Atonsu M/A School and the Kumasi Children's Home benefited Resource and Day Care centers respectively at the cost of ¢500 million.

A similar cultural link has been established with the city of Treichville in La Cote d'Ivoire. To foster closer relations with neighbouring countries and strengthen regional integration, the Ghana-La Cote d'Ivoire week will be observed in Kumasi this week. Burkina Faso might soon open a Consulate office in Kumasi. These interactions are to boost trade, since Kumasi was founded on commerce.

In line with Jumah's vision to put Kumasi ahead of other cities in terms of sanitation, a ¢1.5 billion faecal sludge treatment plant at Buabai, near Kumasi under a World Bank project has long been completed.

The construction of a $4 million landfill at Dompoase, near Kumasi has also come to reduce the health hazards that characterized the management of waste.

The project has reduced the cost of waste management as well. Mounting garbage and heaps of rubbish, which had been a common sight, are disappearing, the streets are no longer dark in the night, KMA itself now has decent computerized offices to ensure an effective database for property rates and revenue. Development of a human resource base has been prioritized, as KMA has instituted massive training programmes for all categories of staff to boost morale.

Kofi Jumah has also initiated street-naming and house-numbering to conform to modern needs. With this initiative, it is now known that Kumasi has about 150,000 houses against 48,000 recorded previously.

This exercise has come to improve on revenue from property rates.

The redevelopment of the Kumasi Central Market, which has been on the drawing board since 1988, might soon take off with the sourcing of a $100 million funding from financial institutions.

The Bantama market might also enjoy a $50 million facility for expansion.

Currently, the KMA, under Kofi Jumah, has contracted the Kobaku and Associates Civil Engineering for the construction of a ¢60-billion office complex, for which a marketing committee has been set up to source additional funding, instead of relying solely on assembly coffers.

For the past three years, about 60 educational projects have been undertaken in the Kumasi metropolis. About 231 contracts for road construction at the cost of ¢28.8 billion have been awarded while 65 major roads have been constructed at ¢98 billion.

Soon, KMA would be hooked to the Internet, following the agreement with HIMF for the creation of a website to showcase the investment opportunities of Kumasi and profile of KMA.

These achievements are, in spite of agitations without number for his removal from office by a section of assembly members.

Kofi Jumah has opted to contest the Asokwa West constituency seat to represent the constituent in Parliament and bring development to the people and the area. He is yet to go for the primaries.