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Already, the new AMA Chief Executive, Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, has promised to make Accra a sustainable smart city devoid of chaos and filth.
Already, the new AMA Chief Executive, Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, has promised to make Accra a sustainable smart city devoid of chaos and filth.

Can city authorities make Accra ‘cleanest’?

The capital city, Accra, is positioning itself to become the cleanest and smartest city  on the continent at least within the next four years.

When President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recently signalled his resolve to make the city the cleanest on the continent within the next four years, many were the doubting Thomases who laughed off the great intention.

This group of doubters may not be far from right if one considers the current state of the capital city, which is full of indiscipline, chaos and filth. Let it rain for a moment and there is panic in the city as everything comes to a standstill. Drive through the city of Accra and you will soon discover the madness and carnage on the roads. City bye-laws cannot be enforced and it is not surprising to observe city authorities looking elsewhere while bye-laws are being flouted with careless abandon. We litter the city with the least opportunity. Our drainage systems are all choked with filth and are hardly cleaned.

Against this backdrop, can anyone be faulted for concluding that the city has a long way to go even though it is not impossible to meet the President’s vision of making the city the cleanest on the continent within the next four years?

Repositioning Accra

Some have argued that Accra is not dirty and filthy but it is the people who are dirty. Whether one agrees with this assertion or not, repositioning Accra to become a sustainable smart city, devoid of chaos and filth befitting a capital city status found in the advanced economies, is a collective responsibility beginning from the President, city authorities and individual residents.

Transforming the capital city, Accra in tandem with  the President’s vision, therefore, requires an attitudinal change, hard work and the enforcement of the city bye-laws to get the city working. Can we for instance treat the Central Business District (CBD) of the capital as a ceremonial zone found elsewhere in many great cities such as Washington and London.

As part of efforts to attain the President’s vision of making the city of Accra the cleanest on the continent, a joint task force of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) last Thursday began the first in a series of massive exercises to clean up and decongest pavements at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange. Determined to help meet the President’s vision, the Rapid Response Task force under the AMA demolished stalls on the pavement and unauthorised structures and settlements around the interchange and burnt them in the full glare of passers-by.  The numerous hawkers on the pavement were also asked to vacate the place immediately.

The interchange, which was opened less than a year ago, has been invaded by hawkers and illegal settlers who are agitating and threatening to vote against President Akufo-Addo if he does not stop the demolition. The exercise must simply not be politicised but rather sustained and extended beyond the interchange to cover the entire CBD.

Currently, within the CBD, some people sell and cook on overhead footbridges. Travelling along the Kojo Thompson road through the Makola Market, it is so chaotic and displeasing. Doing business at the Kaneshie Market area and Kokomba Market at Agbogbloshie is a very unfriendly exercise to undertake. The Tetteh Quarshie Interchange area is gradually becoming a market  zone where street hawkers are all over the place.  There is massive congestion and unplanned development in many parts of the city, including the Abeka Lapaz areas, Nima and Maamobi boundary, as well as Jamestown areas; parts of Osu, behind the Castle. General hawking along many streets of Accra is very much appalling.

Attitudinal change

Without clear-cut well-spelt-out policies, attitudinal change and general discipline, transforming the capital city of Ghana in conformity with the President’s vision will remain a mirage.

As more and more citizens leave rural areas for urban areas, management of the cities is going to be challenging in meeting an increased demand for improved public services delivery.

Already, the new AMA Chief Executive, Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah, has promised to make Accra a sustainable smart city devoid of chaos and filth.

However, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Innovative thinking and long-term plans, including prudent utilisation of resources, are, therefore, needed to roll out the plans to make Accra a clean and smart city.

Lip service cannot be obliged, but rather a concrete plan of action and timelines to achieve the set objectives for the city.

Many of Mr Sowah’s predecessors, including Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson and Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, had very good intentions for the capital city, but they all could not live to see their good intentions come to fruition.

Bite bullet

Getting Accra to function as a smart city is multi-faceted. It will not only require cleanlinesss but also the ability to travel efficiently from one point to another and a greater sense of safety and security, a reliable universal access to cleaner energy, electricity and potable water.   

Throughout the global world, modern cities promise and offer these facilities for their people to live a much improved quality of life while also ensuring an overall economic, social and environmental sustainability.  

AMA has become functionless for sometime, but time is of essence  for the authority to bite the bullet to help make Accra a clean and smart city.

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