Ghanaian Wants to Become Mayor of Hamburg

Mr. Anthony Rau, a Ghanaian born human rights activist and politician has expressed his intention to become the Mayor of Hamburg, one of the largest cities in Germany. Mr. Rau, who was born in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, in 1968 has lived in Germany for the past twenty-three years and has taken up citizenship of that country.

Speaking in an interview with Metro Mail last weekend, Mr. Rau said, to demonstrate his seriousness to achieve his ambition, he has formed and registered a multi cultural political party - The Party Together Future (PTF) - in Hamburg. He said as a human rights activist and former immigrant, he has witnessed and heard about many acts of injustice and racism in the form of violent attacks, discrimination and abuse of basic rights committed against people mostly of African descent in Germany.

Mr. Rau said, surprisingly, the perpetrators of some of these injustices and abuse are fellow Africans including diplomats and high level officials working in the missions of the various countries. He alleged for example that some officers at Ghana's Embassy in Berlin are charging about 350 Euro to process application forms for a passport. "I can't understand why this is happening in Germany when one can have the same passport in Ghana by paying ?50,000". Mr. Rau said he has held meetings with both the former and the current Head of Mission in Berlin but nothing has come out of those meetings.

Mr. Rau said his intention run for that high office in Hamburg is to try and make life more comfortable for the people of the city and Germany at large by giving them the opportunity to enjoy some of the privileges that they are legally entitled to but are being denied by a few people in authority.

He appealed to President Kufuor to ensure that his government delivers on the promises it made to Ghanaians before the elections and said Ghana could become a prosperous nation whose citizen would not think of traveling abroad in search of greener pastures.

On Accra's development, he said more public places of convenience and dustbins should be provided in the city. The streets and the gutters, he said should also be swept on regular basis and kept clean at all times to prevent people from spending the little that they have on high medical bills. Mr. Rau also called for the replacement of all damaged streetlights in the city to reduce crime and road accidents. "All they need to do is to do the right thing at the right time," he said.