Yesterday, petty traders and drivers operating on the pavements and by the roadside at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra vacated these places in compliance of an ultimatum given them days earlier by the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GA-RCC).
The GA-RCC says its action is part of Operation Clean Your Frontage’ campaign, a policy initiated by the GA-RCC to, among other objectives, make it obligatory for all individuals and corporate entities to be responsible for the cleaning and greening of their immediate surroundings.
The campaign is also being used in the national capital to power an initiative by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, tagged ‘Make Accra Work Again’, which is also meant to address all manner of nuisance that undermines the beauty and the serene atmosphere of the city.
Bye-laws were passed and gazetted by the 29 Assemblies in the region to enable the lawful implementation of the Operation, with effect from yesterday, (February 1).
The Ghanaian Times is pleased with planned activities to be undertaken under the Operation, including daily sweeping of streets and other open public places, collection of refuse; desilting of public drains, regular weeding of road medians, greening of open public spaces, road medians and road shoulders and periodic painting of curbs on ceremonial streets.
The details show elaborate planning, which means the campaign is a serious enterprise but as to whether it will be sustained perpetually as a feature of enhancing the health and the aesthetics of the environment is the question.
In a country where the idiom ‘a nine days’ wonder’ can be related to a good number of campaigns and other activities, this question is not a mischievous one but significant to prompt the establishment that the status quo must change and must change with the application of the law.
Every member of the public is complaining about one rot or another yet the law is not applied.
It is about time the law was applied without fear or favour in all situations, and particularly the ‘Operation Clean Your Frontage campaign.
The insanitary sights in the country is a huge eyesore that must be contained.
So far the campaign has been gentle, unlike previous moves to achieve the same objectives.
In those instances traders, for example, were constantly harassed to the extent of such activities earning the scornful description of “aba ei”, a Ga expression meaning “they are coming” ; “aba ei’ thus refers to the city guards undertaking such exercises with brute force and cruelty.
The infamy was absent yesterday and the Ghanaian Times hopes it will return no more but the law must work.
Even though a few miscreants wanted to attack the team involved in the exercise or campaign for which the police fired warning shots to deter them, yesterday’s event must not pass without any comment.
It is a mark of the humane leadership led by a gentle giant, Mr Quartey, pushing the campaign.
Probably, previous such exercises earned infamy because of abuse of power and authority and this should guide the leadership of this country at the national, regional, district, community and organisational levels.
Before this piece would end, the Ghanaian Times wants to call attention to the fact that after the Odawna Market got burnt on November 18, 2020, the government promised the affected traders some financial assistance, which was promptly delivered.
However, some of the traders yesterday complained that the government had reneged on its promise to reconstruct the market, meaning they are going to sell there in the open and to be at the mercy of the weather, so the government must go to their aid.
The Ghanaian Times hopes that everyone living within the catchment areas of ‘Operation Clean Your Frontage’ would consider himself or herself as a stakeholder and give it the necessary push towards success.
