When you say president of that city, is that the same as a mayor? It is funny and it is also serious that some leaders do this. Like robots reading text like you said. So, he said they wouldn't be prosecuted and then they were. So, he was like, oops. He was like, oh, who wrote my lines? He should be held responsible.
As far as I study, the exact English word here is "Chairman/Chairwoman of Ha Noi People’s Committee".
Well, this subject you can ask your Vietnamese friends, they will tell you more. It is very interesting, there are many statements that can be synthesized into jokes. :)