AMA - 1/12 is not enough
We the residents of Accra are really excited about President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stating his commitment to the vision of making the city the cleanest in Africa. This announcement is a real morale booster and residents are highly charged with positivity for the success of this initiative.
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And the reason? Accra is nearly totally submerged in pollution, filth and its accompanying perfume which has the ability to disable one’s sense of smell for hours on end.
Eleven companies have been contracted in addition to our own Zoomlion to get the job done and our excitement is rapidly soaring. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is at the helm, steering the whole long-term operation to our promised land of international status cleanliness. Bravo!
Unfortunately, there is a fly in AMA’s ointment which could end up being the Achilles heel of the whole exercise: Noise pollution.
Can you imagine a squeaky clean town drowning in sound pollution from street preachers with high-powered speakers that can be heard and felt a good kilometre away? Or the “kookoo” herbal vendors, with their public address systems jauntily perched in the bucket or roof of their vehicles, cruising at a walking pace? Some also just slap together a flatbed cargo truck, some corporate bunting, a group of youth and plenty speakers. They are then unleashed onto the poor vehicular and pedestrian traffic all in the name of advertising, forgetting that they are already comatose from the orchestras of noise at every step or turn they make!
One-month ban
We are in the season of the ban on drumming and general noisemaking. Thanks to the Ga Traditional Council and the AMA, Accra is serene. The type of serenity a clean, modern, transformed city should sound like. But this serenity is yours for one month, and one month only. After that, the Gas commence preparation for Homowo, their annual festival, AMA goes back to sleep and we are reverted to square one for the next 11 months.
AMA sanitation by-laws exist and we all know that from history. They also have a workforce because we have rare sightings of their vehicles in the metropolis, and we see these men in green strolling about the central business district, harassing hawkers for their daily toll or whatever and clamping wrongfully parked vehicles. So where are the officers responsible for enforcing our by-laws on noise pollution?
Where is their proactivity? Why does AMA have to be a reactive institution? From the general public’s point of view of AMA and noise pollution, this perception/observation is accurate.
Noise is splitting the very fibre of the city, bringing tension within communitie, sparking violence, destruction and death in some instances; but AMA can only give us one month of respite out of 12? This won’t do. Residents of Accra can’t and will not accept this any longer. AMA must wake up now, especially when the city is prepping up to be one of the cleanest in Africa.
The residents of Accra expect and demand bite, not just bark from this institution. AMA closes for the day at 5 pm just like everyone else. Ask any resident of Accra and they will tell you that the nocturnal noise polluters are by far worse than the diurnal ones, which commences anytime from 7 pm and don’t relent till 1 or 2 am. AMA? Out of coverage area. Do they have a nocturnal proactive team that does patrols in the night and/or respond to calls from pressing, potentially explosive situations? Is there even a contact number one can call when noise is ongoing and depriving others of their peace of mind, let alone sleep? Why not?
We really need to not just jaw jaw about noise pollution anymore; we need our by-laws enforced. Galamsey is destroying our forests, eco systems and water bodies; noise nuisance is silently distributing stroke, high blood pressure, migraine, insomnia, indigestion from frustration and of course hearing impairment/loss onto Accra residents. Yes silently, because most of us wouldn’t recognise the link between our new or chronic ailments and the bombardment of noise. But it exists and is wreaking havoc on our collective health.
So AMA, what are your plans for the remaining 11 months of the year, every year from now? What should we be expecting from you? What plans are you putting in place to roll out which would synchronise with the President’s vision and commitment to sterilising the city?
Are you going to close down wrongly located churches, pubs and other commercial entities? Seize noise-making equipment from repeat offender churches, pubs, restaurants and nightclubs? Are you going to regulate the 4 am call to prayer of mosques, knowing very well that with or without the call, those who will rise to take part will, and those who won’t, won’t?
Like the heading of this article states, one month of serenity can’t compensate for good 11 months of unprecedented, uncontrolled, unmonitored, unrelenting and unwanted noise. This writer was privileged to be granted space in this same medium to complain about Las Palmas Food Centre, Kaneshie and their noise up-to-midnight-and-beyond music. That was August 29, 2016. Eight months of passionate inertia have passed. We really hope and pray that the city of Accra isn’t treated with this same attitude because if it is, then our President’s vision will become a laughing stock.