I vote for small things
I call myself a politician of small things. I believe that if we get the small things right, the big things will be easier to do.
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But before I get on with my treatise on the importance of small things, l should probably get in my caveat. This is not to suggest that I think there shouldn’t be room for big projects. I am the woman, after all, who is on record to have made a very public and spirited defence of the building of the $300 million Our Lady of Peace Basilica in Yamousoukro, the administrative capital of Cote d’Ivoire.
I should probably add in my defence of the Basilica support that faced with the mockery and criticism of the British press in full flow at the time, I felt I had no choice but to point out to them that at the time the Buckingham Palace was built, there were many poor people in their country and the overwhelming majority of the people did not have indoor toilets.
But I digress; I only wanted to state that I do not disagree that there is a time and place for flyovers and presidential palaces. Having said that, I must reiterate that the more I go round and look at our country, the more I am persuaded that at this time of our development, we should concentrate on getting the small things done before we venture into the big things.
Poor sewage systems
Last Thursday, I was out in town during the sudden huge rainfall in the midmorning in Accra and I was once again hit by the sad state of our capital. It struck me forcibly again that unless the drains are constructed and covered, it is pointless and a criminal waste of money to put asphalt on the roads.
My mind went to the merciless mockery of Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia when he embarked upon the construction of the central sewage system of Accra. A sewage system was obviously not the type of sexy and big project that many saw as something worthy of a “progressive” government. It was not a Job 600 and it was certainly not an Accra-Tema Motorway.
A sewage system does not exactly lend itself to being photographed and listed in a book chronicling the achievements of a government. Not surprisingly, that project which was to provide a central sewage system for the capital was abandoned as soon as the Busia government was overthrown.
Thus in the year 2016, the capital city of Ghana has neighbourhoods where people build huge impressive houses and the household waste from such houses is directed into the open gutter or into the street.
If we were not obsessed with “big projects”, nobody would dream of building a 25 million-dollar airport in a place such as Ho. But then, I suspect that a central sewage and a covered drainage system in Ho would not fetch as many votes as an airport would.
We can build all the flyovers and dramatic airport terminals we want, if the street from the airport to the office of the President remains in its current disgraceful state, no visitor would be impressed by our capital.
I remember I was privileged to be in the team who accompanied President Kufuor to visit the legendary Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, then in semi-retirement. His advice to President Kufuor as I recall was to make sure the road from the airport to his office was always in a good state and the lawns at the office were always well trimmed and green.
The little things that matter
Lee Kuan Yew did not say anything about building six-lane highways or the most efficient harbour in the world; he recommended keeping the lawns at the State House green and well trimmed. Even if we were to believe that it was tolerable to have the army of hawkers on the Liberation Road, which is the street that links the airport to the office of the President, how can we explain the state of the median of the dual carriage-way?
How can it be that the lawn in front of Flagstaff House is in such an indifferent state? Now that the rains have started, at least the grass looks green, which it hadn’t for an embarrassingly long time; but surely we ought to be able to keep the frontage of that building in a good state.
Why are the carpets on the steps leading to the toilets in the Banquet Hall so worn out and shabby? Why oh why is there no wheelchair access to the Banquet hall and why are there no railings to hold on to as you try to tackle the more than thirty steps that lead to the Hall? How come that more than 10 years after the passage of the Disability Act, no attempt has been made to make official buildings like the Banquet Hall disabled friendly?
A car got burnt on the pavement right in front of the M-Plaza Hotel in Roman Ridge and the burnt-out hulk of the car is still there on the pavement about two weeks later. Why do we think it is okay to leave accident vehicles on the streets? We do not need any new loans to be able to remove accident vehicles from the roads surely.
I tried to be enthusiastic about the asphalting of the city roads. But I was not impressed with the neighbourhood having one asphalted road and all the other roads having huge potholes. I feared we were starting from the wrong end. I remember remonstrating with myself that I should really try and see things from the perspective of the President.
But as the rain poured last Thursday and I was on the roads, including some of the asphalted ones, I had to conclude that my lack of enthusiasm was sadly not misplaced. Since the gutters had not been covered, the asphalted roads turned out to be even more dangerous during the downpour. As the open gutters quickly filled with the fast-flowing rain water, there was no way of telling where the open gutters started, and unsuspecting drivers ended in the drains.
It is obviously not as sexy or headline grabbing to build and to cover drains, but in our current circumstances, we should concentrate our attention on those areas rather than on flyovers.
I have noted the attempt to sell the Kwame Nkrumah flyover as evidence of Accra becoming a modern city. To qualify as a modern city, the work is done underground first; there is a central sewage system, the drainage network is constructed and a proper conduit for all the utilities is built. Then and only then do you start doing things above ground.
When we get the little things done, the quality of our lives will improve. When people keep the frontage of their homes and offices clean and tidy, our towns and cities will look attractive and we shall not need to engage in monthly clean-up exercises.
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