| |
 |
|
ThisWeekGhana.com becomes the D-O-T
before the dot com
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Commentary Page
We invite commentaries from writers all over. The subject is about
Ghana and the world. We reserve the right to accept or reject
submissions, but we are not necessarily responsible for the opinions
expressed in articles we publish......MORE
|
|
Operation
Sisyphus, the Accra city cleaner
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
Hawkers and freewheelers are back on the street of Accra. It is
not that we don’t wish the NDC government well. We do. After
all, it is our country and our progress. We have to wish the
country good, but first it has to be run devoid of unnecessary
politicking.
However, when we turn the pursuit of power into ideals for
politics, then we are bound to create intractable problems. We
are even destined to have the world laugh at us.
The exercise to clean the street is one such event which has
been flaked for political advantages.
It used to be the NPP administration task to clear the street of
Accra of its teaming hawkers. They started with the good idea.
They had a market built for the purpose of emptying the streets
of its hawkers.
The hawkers took one look at the new plan before their eviction
from the streets, and devoid of any other plan of their own to
attract customers at this new place, decided to stick with the
open streets rather than move to the brand new market that has
been put up by public funds for the common good.
They, the hawkers that is, had decided to stick with what they
were used to, because there was ready (God or Onyame anua) made
foot traffic, regardless of all the negatives and the
inconveniences that approach brought to the city and the public.
Even if it meant causing public health hazards and turning city
commence and dwelling into a complete eyesore, that was what the
street hawker brigade, turned political revolutionaries wanted.
They threatened political disaster for anybody or party that
said no to their wishes and self-interest.
Then in came a cowardly NPP official who saw the whole scheme
for cleaning a street as a lost cause politically. He figured it
would be better to keep the hawkers in the streets rather than
lose the 2008 election and went on to have the then City Mayor
of Accra’s order countermanded. The mayor was about that time in
the midst of an aggressive city cleaning campaign.
In spite of the political brilliance of the NPP official, the
NPP lost the 2008 election; in part, because the NDC kept the
pressure on them, advocating and telling the same hawker
electorate that no one had the political right to deprive them
of the means to make a living.
So making a living has now become anything you do in an open
place. Kaya Yei and their counterparts can sleep there, urinate
openly in places and do anything your mind can’t imagine in
public. The central part of Accra, and points within the city,
have been turned into complete eyesores. Shall we say “Power to
the People” at this point? Amen.
The opportunity to clean the city was thus lost under the NPP.
Indeed the street cleaning exercise has now become a Sisyphean
task of such derision.
Last week, June 2009, one administration after the NPP’s Accra
city mayor, the new NDC boss of the same metropolitan city
started the street cleaning campaign again.
As of yesterday, July 1, 2009. it has been noted by some
publications, including the on-line Ghanadot, that the hawkers
are back, and this time with some vengeance.
They are spouting political threats against the NDC as they did
against the NPP. Prior to 2008, the NDC, instead of staying
neutral at worse, or at best supporting the street cleaning
cause, decided to use it for political advantage.
It is now the turn of the NPP to pay the NDC in its own
political coin. Will they?
Our only hope is that better sense will prevail within the ranks
of the NPP about this issue. After all, it is for the common
good to have a healthy beautiful capital.
There is always a hell of a lot more issues to politic about in
Ghana than this one problem of beautifying Accra. To go against
the street cleaning campaign just so hawkers can exercise free
trade at the expense of commerce, health and aesthetic appeal of
our capital city is a bad idea.
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja,Publsiher
www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, July 2, 2009
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or
reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website,
email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com . Or don't publish at
all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
The G8: Africa Must Rethink
Development Model
Commentary, July 1, Ghanadot -
Adding value to African raw materials
enables importing countries to grow their industries,
financial and knowledge sectors while the African is
left with hoe in hand scratching the soils for minerals
and crop... even chicken scratch the soil. Little
ingenuity is needed in the scratch the soil model!
....More
|
|
|
Operation Sisyphus, the Accra city
cleaner
Commentary, July 2, Ghanadot
- There is always a hell of a lot more issues to politic
about in Ghana than this one problem of beautifying Accra.
....More |
|
|
|
|
|
Development and the holiday mentality
Commentary, July 1, Ghanadot -
We celebrate our achievements to date with holidays. Thus,
today, July 1st, is our Republic Day. Then there is Independent
Day and the funeral days, not counting other celebrative days.
That must add up to a lot of non-working days in a year.
...
More |
|
|
Fraud, abuse and waste in Ghana’s
public services
Feature, July 1, Ghanadot - Marking 50th Anniversary
of public services workers in Ghana, Ghanadot’s Financial
and Economic Journalist, Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh takes a
look at some of the audit reports of the public sector in
Ghana ....More |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
SPONSORSHIP AD HERE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
