Any Hope For Decongested Accra?

Talk about a decongestion exercise in the Business District of Accra has been around for a while now.

We indeed editorialized on the subject soon after word was released by the new man in charge, Mayor Alfred Vanderpuije.

Even before the commencement of the exercise, we have been saddled with the unexpected news that the man is in the US attending his daughter’s birthday even as his colleagues were busy attending a mandatory orientation course.

We are beginning to discern something unseemly about the new Mayor even before he starts the decongestion exercise which as we have been told, is an issue which germane stakeholders have not been informed about.

Since such stakeholders have not been formally brought on board, we would not be surprised if they fold their arms and just watch from their offices.

We are also told that his trip itself is shrouded in indiscipline, having embarked upon it when relevant ministries frowned upon it.

Having already been rubbished in a section of the media for an alleged misdemeanour while working in the US, the new Mayor is being watched by many with a certain doubt.

The media has treated the subject already, an action which throws into question, the integrity of who is going to manage the problem-studded city of Accra.

We have doubts about the ability of the man to succeed in this major task of decongesting Accra, having started exuding these traits.

We would have loved to have a strong man run this city so that all the unacceptable features associated with it will give way.

We have reached a stage where our national capital should stand shoulder to shoulder with others in its class.

Dr. Vanderpuije has a Herculean task at hand, and we wish he were already at it so that with the long period stretched before him, he could perhaps make an impact.

It was thrilling to hear him state that with elections far away, this is the time to really move the hawkers from the pavements and other unauthorized parts of the city.

We might have been too busy to notice it but the medians on our city roads are mostly without their green feature, having lost these to hawkers and pedestrians who walk on them.

Some of these portions of our roads now bear footpaths with others, especially around Tema Station in Accra Central, used as places for laundry drying.

The green grass on these portions of the roads were planted using public funds but with our poor maintenance culture, the plants have all turned into patches of brown.

It appears we do not appreciate the green and ornamental plants.

The Mayor, perhaps, will be able to bluff of doubting Thomases and change our negative attitude overnight, who knows?

Although it is impossible to get another chance to make a first impression, perhaps in the case of Mayor Vanderpuije, there could be an exception.

We cannot wait to have a new Accra even as we have our skepticisms.

We wonder what the situation of Accra would have been had the Zoomlion module not been in place.

It is now clear that even with the most effective sanitation module, little would be achieved without a corresponding attitudinal change and a strong and sincere leader managing a congested city.

Daily Guide