The annual World Mayor project aims to raise the profile of mayors worldwide as well as to honour those who have served their communities well and who have made contributions to the well-being of cities nationally and internationally. 2005 results
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Comments in support of
Arkebe Oqubay
Mayor of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
The top 10 mayors in World Mayor 2005 were selected equally on the number of votes received and the quality and conviction of supporting statements. Below we publish an edited selection of comments received in support of Arkebe Oqubay, Mayor of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).Comment: A true leader is one who does what he does with clear vision in his mind and manages to inspire others to commit themselves for what he saw. To me and possibly to all inhabitants of Addis Arkebe is a kind of person who inspite of all barriers (material and immaterial) managed to prove his true leadership. I have never seen or heard of anyone in the country's history who in such a short time changed the attitude of our people which in my opinion is the key to the development the country cried for ages.
Comment: I vote for the Mayor of Addis Ababa,because he hase tried to solve the deep rooted problem of the city of Addis Ababa and he has succeeded solving housing problem, unemployment, HIV/AIDS awarness.
Comment: Hi everybody This is Asad and I like Mr. Arkebe Qqubay to win the election because when he committed something and he completes his speeches or mission. He makes his talks real too and takes Addis Ababa serious and trying to make Addis a beautiful place to live. He made some changes already by this time and he was a mayor for just short time. I say he is the first intelligence man as mayor for Addis Ababa. He is really good and I am done saying a lot about him. I hope he wins!
Comment: I have chosen Arkebe Oqubay for the reason that he is one of the best visionary personalities Ethiopia has ever had. He completely changed not only the city of Addis Ababa but also send an exemplary message to the corrupted african leaders that if the can honestly made change to the life of the people positively, they will be loved and respected by the same people. Arkebe is the only person who have come up with new ideas that changed the attitudes of people. He is the only person who transeds cultural and national boundaries of the peoples of Ethiopia. In general, he is exemplary not only for mayors but also for national leaders of the divided societies. So he deserves to be the winner of the contest, if it is conducted as Arkebe's style of business
Comment: Transforming the city of Addis Ababa is something that has been elusive for a long time. But transforming Addis Ababa is all that Mayor Arkebe has been able to achieve with a stroke of brilliance. Considering the short time he had to accomplish the task and the point he started from, I genuiniely believe that he deserves the 'World Mayor of 2005' award.
Comment: The Mayor is working for the rebirth of the city. He is concentrating on the fight against HIV/AIDS. He is the first Mayor of Addis to be loved by all the citizens. He hosts lots of international festivities. He is smart and not a political animal.
Comment: Arkebe Oqubay is the most dynamic and workaholic Mayor that the city of Addis Ababa has ever seen. In such a short time (18 month), he has completely transformed the cities civil service making it efficient, and conducive for investment. He has been accepted and appreciated by every city dweller beyond party lines. He has accomplished a great deal so that Addis Ababa (being the seat of AU, and ECA) would once again be embraced as African‚s capital. It is amazing how a single individual can bring about a lasting change in such a short time. I am proud to call him my Mayor.
Comment: I have chosen Arkebe Oqubay for the reason that he is one of the best visionary personalities Ethiopia has ever had. He completely changed not only the city of Addis Ababa but also send an exemplary message to the corrupted african leaders that if the can honestly made change to the life of the people positively, they will be loved and respected by the same people. Arkebe is the only person who have come up with new ideas that changed the attitudes of people. He is the only person who transeds cultural and national boundaries of the peoples of Ethiopia. In general, he is exemplary not only for mayors but also for national leaders of the divided societies. So he deserves to be the winner of the contest, if it is conducted as Arkebe's style of business.
Comment: He is a hard worker, reliable and some one who sees the peoples problems and priorities. In addition to this, he is the a man who brought a great hope to our city and to the people. We live with him and I am very much delighted to give my vote to Mr Arkebe Oqubay.
Comment: Mayor Arkebe has demonstrated his ability to mobilise the public to rally behind him in his efforts to reduce poverty, improve governance, and raise the city's urban standard within a very short period of time. Under his Mayorial leadership over the last couple of years, residents of Addis have witnessed a significant improvement in urban governance. The real political power is now decentrealised to the lower tiers of government structure where the public can easily access municipal and public services. He has entrusted these lower tiers of government with key economic and political powers, which in turn resulted in improved service delivery, efficiency, transparency and accontability. Under his leadership the city has witnessed expansion in job opportunities for the young and women. Over the last couple of years, he has created hundred thousands of jobs through the promotion of small businesses. mayor Arkebe also luanched the construction of low cost houses with a view of eradicating shelter problem in the city, and already the city has witnessed the construction of tens of thousands of condominium houses.
Mayor Arkebe has shown also how the environment and particularly the sanitation of the city can be dramatically improvedwith an active participation of the public. Addis is now more cleaner than it has ever been.
To circumvent the HIV/AIDS pandemic Mayor Arkebe expanded the counselling and testing services, and himself took the test publicly, which then encouraged residents to come out and take voluntary HIV/AIDS tests. He has also invested in the construction of schools so as to improve the quality of education.
Over the last couple of years we have witnessed the transformation of Addis into a real Diplomatic Capital of Africa and an important international city. The City has twinned with other cities in the world to share experiences and promote co-operation among local governments. Addis has named its streets after the 52 African states to symbolise its position as a diplomatic capital of Africa. Addis is now able to atract international events, and in January 2005 has successfully organised the Africa Unite Event Organised to mark the 60th birthday of Bob Marley.
For his accomlishments mayor Arkebe was named the African Mayor of 2005 by the Broadcasting Network of Africa, I beleive that he also deserves to win the 2005 World Mayor Award.
Comment: Mr. Arkebe Oqubay is a leader who proves against all odds that change is possible for those who commit them selves to solve the problems of their people. He simplyfied the process of receiving services form city administration, which was rediculously complecated and purposely set for corruption and unwanted bureaucracies. He invisioned future development of the city and focused on building infrustructure and tried his best to make things coducive for investors. I can say he addresses the probles ranging from uneplyment, tax related corruption, the pile of dirt on streets of the city to fighting the highly organized corrupted officials and elite oligarchs that runsuck the wealth of the city/country. I can say he paves a path out of the jungle.
Comment: Ethiopia is a country with very limited resources and countless challenges. With all challenges at hand, Mr. Qqubay had made in-road to transform the Capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa into becoming a first class City in Africa. It is a good start. Good job Mr. Qqubay.
Comment: Since Arkebe Oqubay became Mayor a short while ago, he brought about significant changes such as cleaning and beautifying the city, improving the administration, building houses, improving the investment climate, taking initiative in tackling the AIDS problem, and above all for bringing HOPE to the city.
Comment: The Mayor has made Addis Ababa a cleaner and more liveable city within a very short time.
Each year the most outstanding mayor is presented with the World Mayor Award. In 2004 the Award was won by Edi Rama, Mayor of Tirana. Dora Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens, is the winner of the 2005 World Mayor Award. 2005 results
AFRICA
• Mayor of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Mayor of Antananarivo, Madagascar
• Mayor of Pretoria (Tshwane), South Africa
THE AMERICAS
• Mayor of Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Mayor of Belo Horizonte, Brazil
• Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Mayor of Mississauga, Canada
• Mayor of Montreal, Canada
• Mayor of Toronto, Canada
• Mayor of Vancouver, Canada
• Mayor of Guatemala City, Guatemala
• Mayor of Mexico City, Mexico
• Mayor of Akron, USA
• Mayor of Atlanta, USA
• Mayor of Baltimore, USA
• Mayor of Charleston, USA
• Mayor of Chicago, USA
• Mayor of New York City, USA
• Mayor of San Francisco, USA
• Mayor of Seattle, USA
• Mayor of Tinley Park, USA
• Mayor of Washington DC, USA
ASIA
• Mayor of Beijing, China
• Mayor of Shanghai, China
• Mayor of Tehran, Iran
• Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan
• Mayor of Kitakyushu, Japan
• Mayor of Karachi, Pakistan
• Mayor of San Fernando, Philippines
• Mayor of Taipei, Taiwan
• Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey
AUSTRALIA
• Mayor of Melbourne, Australia
• Mayor of Auckland, New Zealand
EUROPE
• Mayor of Innsbruck, Austria
• Mayor of Vienna, Austria
• Mayor of Grenoble, France
• Mayor of Lyon, France
• Mayor of Paris, France
• Mayor of Strasbourg, France
• Mayor of Berlin, Germany
• Mayor of Bonn, Germany
• Mayor of Düsseldorf, Germany
• Mayor of Frankfurt, Germany
• Mayor of Hannover, Germany
• Mayor of Leipzig, Germany
• Mayor of Munich, Germany
• Mayor of Stuttgart, Germany
• Mayor of Athens, Greece
• Mayor of Rhodes, Greece
• Mayor of Budapest, Hungary
• Mayor of Rome, Italy
• Mayor of Turin, Italy
• Mayor of Venice, Italy
• Mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania
• Mayor of Skopje, Macedonia
• Mayor of Tilburg, Netherlands
• Mayor of Lublin, Poland
• Mayor of Ekaterinburg, Russia
• Mayor of Moscow, Russia
• Mayor of Madrid, Spain
• Mayor of Saragossa, Spain
• Mayor of Stockholm, Sweden
• Mayor of Hartlepool, UK
• Mayor of London, UK
• Mayor of Kiev, Ukraine
More details on finalists