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After leading the government to the slaughter house in far away United States of America with a $511 million suit by an international company, TJGEM, against the former, and a barrage of allegations brought against him by his own chiefs and assembly members, the Mayor of Accra, Alfred Okoh Vanderpuije, has still managed to secure nomination for a second term in office. A release from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and signed by the sector minister, Kwasi Oppong Fosu, on Wednesday, indicated that President John Dramani Mahama has, in accordance with Section 243(1) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 20(1) of the Local Government Act 1993, Act 462, made some new nominations to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions. And among the new nominees was Dr. Okoh Vanderpuije, as Metropolitan Chief Executive for Accra. The Chronicle can, however, report on authority that the desire of the Mayor to once again occupy one of the enviable offices on the Atta Mills� High Street in Accra is not going to be all that rosy, as 53 out of the 116 assembly members are honing their knives to ensure that he does not receive the endorsement to rule Accra again. Information pieced together by The Chronicle indicates that the 53 assembly members met in Accra yesterday, where the decision was taken to vote against Vanderpuije, when his nomination is finally submitted to the assembly for endorsement. One of the spokespersons for the 53 assembly members, Seth Raymond Ntoana Tettey, told this reporter in a telephone interview yesterday, that based on previous experience, they had decided not to involve any assembly member who was appointed by the government. According to him, anytime government appointees in the assembly objected to nominees sent for approval by the President, their appointments were immediately revoked. Tettey further told The Chronicle that they had advised their members to take whatever money that might be given to them, but vote against the election of Dr. Okoh Vanderpuije. According to him, the 53 assembly members were very disappointed with the decision by the executive to re-nominate the Accra Mayor, since they had earlier issued a press statement and copied it to the Office of the President, cataloguing the entire rot that had gone on at the AMA, under the watch of Dr. Okoh Vanderpuije. The said press statement made reference to the Conti Project, which is the subject of the multimillion dollar suit that has been brought against the government and the assembly, and contended that the project did not pass through the corridors of the assembly. Tettey and his group further alleged in the press statement that, according to statue, the Accra Planning Committee, which awards building permits, is supposed to be constituted by the assembly members and officials from the Metro Works, Town and Country Planning Department, with the Mayor serving as Chairman. The group, however, regretted that no assembly member was allowed to serve on the committee, and that building permits are approved without the input of the assembly members. The aggrieved assembly members also alleged that contracts were awarded at the assembly without going through the tender process and the approval of the general assembly, whilst expenditures at the assembly were carried out without passing through due process. Earlier in the week, some Ga chiefs issued a press statement, where they also made reference to an audit report that accused Oko Vanderpuije�s administration of financial malfeasance. Part of the said audit report reads: �We have observed monies totaling GH�1,303,074.88 were released during the audit period to individuals for the construction of school structures to end the school shift system in the metropolis, without passing through the tendering process, in contravention of the Public Procurement Act (PPA), Act 663. Management also varied contracts without authority and overpaid the contractor by GH53, 657, 33.� The audit report further stated that purchases worth GH�122,041.30 were not routed through the stores, in contradiction of the Store Regulation 1984, Chapter 5 section 0529. The report also accused the Vanderpuije administration that an amount of GH�1,537, 902.21, being payments made on 215 pay vouchers (PVs), were not captured in the electronic cash book, thus understating the expenditure quoted in the 2011 Financial Statement. To the 53 assembly members, these were all serious administrative lapses that should not have merited a second term for the Mayor, and that if the Ministry of the local Government and Rural Development thinks Vanderpuije should be allowed to continue in office, they would also use their voting power, entrusted to them by the constitution, to reject him. In the writ brought against Dr. Okoh Vanderpuije and the government of Ghana in a US court, the plaintiffs alleged that Vanderpuije had a record and public history of misuse of public funds in the US, in that, while a Principal at the W.A. Perry Middle School, in Richland County, South Carolina, he was charged with misuse of $4,460.00 of school funds � a charge which resulted in his resignation from his employment, required him to pay restitution to the school district, caused the South Carolina Board of Education to suspend his license as an educator in the State of South Carolina, as well as resulting in his being prosecuted for a crime. �Moreover, Mayor Vanderpuije did not contest the civil suspension of his license or the criminal prosecution for misuse of public funds, with a plea of not guilty to the respective charges, but instead, he confessed to his misuse of public funds, which resulted in his license as an educator in South Carolina being temporarily suspended.� �Furthermore, he both (a) escaped criminal conviction and (b) was enabled to have his educator�s license reinstated, only by completing the South Carolina Criminal Pretrial Intervention Program, by which a first time criminal offender, though guilty of a charge, can both avoid conviction of the crime and receive a complete expunging of the record of arrest and criminal prosecution, by successfully completing a pretrial probation program under the court�s supervision,� the plaintiff stated in the writ. Dr. Vanderpuije has so far not made any public comment on this alleged criminal record in the US. He, however, disagrees with some of the allegations being made against his administration by some of the assembly members. He told Citi FM, an Accra based private radio station, that he believed he was on track, but needed the support of all the assembly members to complete the enormous challenges confronting the assembly. �I have worked in this assembly for four years, and since day one, the assembly members have had faith in me, and whatever we have achieved in the assembly, we have achieved together,� he stated. �I know what is happening in the assembly, and I know we will overcome it. I and the assembly members will all work together for the continuous development of Accra. I cannot do it by myself. It takes me, the assembly members and staff of the AMA to move Ghana forward,� he added. More anon!