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THE MAYOR of Kumasi, Mr. Michael Kojo Bonsu says he is not arrogant, as his detractors have claimed. A section of the Assembly members have questioned his alleged �authoritative� leadership style and queried him over his attitude towards assembly members whose phones are seized before giving them audience in his office. The mayor admitted that he does not allow assembly members into his office with their phones, which he explained was based on mistrust and experiences of the past. The KMA boss says his stance is a security measure and that is unchangeable as evidence point to attempts by some assembly members to record interactions with them for malicious reasons. According to him, he had been advised to be wary of assembly members because most of them could record conversations on tape for malicious purposes and thought disallowing their phones into his office was the only way to prevent such situation. Asked what might be the premise for the confrontation when he is less than 100 days in office, the Mayor told The Chronicle in a telephone interview that these wild and unfounded allegations are premised on the fact that his accusers are not comfortable with measures being put in place to streamline and monitor activities of management and staff and the Assembly as a whole. Mr. Bonsu pointed to the introduction of a biometric clocking system which compels every member of management and staff, including himself, the co-ordinating director and the rest of the management team and staff to log in to ensure discipline at the workplace. He explained that his accusers might also not be happy with the appointment of an 11-member Contract Committee tasked to investigate all contracts including outsourcing of revenue mobilization and Built, Operate and Transfer (BOT) projects. According to Mr. Bonsu, the objective of the committee, which formation was adopted by the General Assembly, is to plug all the leakages in the revenue base of the assembly and generate enough for development projects since the Assembly most relied on its Internally Generated Funds (IGF) for such expenditures. Mr. Bonsu at the first ordinary meeting of the 3rd session of the assembly on May 21, 2013 bemoaned the decline in revenue collection over the last three years (2009-2012) and said something must be done about collections from the markets, shops, commercial licences, property rates, parking fees, pharmacy shops and chemical shops. He was particularly not happy that KMA�s outsourced revenue collection agencies take 70% while the KMA receive 30% of revenue generated and assured of a review to ensure that the Assembly gets a better share from the revenue collected. From this explanation, Mayor Bonsu said the aggrieved assembly members were not being fair and that the intended resort to a vote of no confidence, which he saw as �a common language� was an attempt to create a storm in a tea cup. According to him, he does not believe in confrontation as a best tool for resolution of issues suggesting dialogue since the provision of Vote of No confidence is not workable in this instant. The Chief executive of KMA, however, reiterated his mission to serve the people of Kumasi, Ashanti and Ghana as a whole devoid of politics to be able to focus on priority areas of sanitation and security. He also assured an open door administration. The mayor said the procurement and installation of CCTV cameras within the Central Business District (CBD) and all known flash points in order to achieve maximum security in the metropolis had been referred to a Committee. The Public Relations Officer, Mr. Godwin Okumah Nyame, in reaction to media accusations said his boss is friendly to the extent that he personally walks into the reception to usher in visitors to his office. According to him, the KMA boss is seriously addressing the sanitation situation in Kumasi which the KMA has already earned the credit for the initiating the Central cleaning system. He said the CCTV as promised is being discussed at the Sub-Committee level before it comes to the General Assembly to be followed by procurement to effect implementation. E N D.