AMA Guards In Daylight Extortion

The activities of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) guards in recent times with regard to clamping and towing of vehicles is becoming a complete nuisance. Their actions, noble as they may like us to see it, rather seem to have been leaving bitter tastes in the mouth of affected motorists as happened on last week Wednesday, in front of the Ridge Towers in Accra.

It is a fact that among the priorities of the AMA is revenue mobilization. But to what extent must revenue be generated with it looking as though the assembly is extorting money from the citizenry under the guise of a corrective measure aimed at bringing sanity to the city?

The modus operandi of AMA for years has come under public scrutiny. They have always been in the news for the wrong reasons. From clearing hawkers from the streets to dealing with the ever-rising heaps of refuse in the capital to demolishing houses on waterways; the AMA is always seen reeling.

It regrettable that the AMA has not found it expedient to interact with the people on its operations as far as the prevalence of sanity, especially within the commercial business district of the capital, is concerned so as to demystify their operations. The least said about issues concerning authorized structures and provision of permits, the better.

It is that “laws are made for men” and anybody who falls foul of the AMA by-laws and other regulations of the assembly need to be dealt with according to laid down procedure. It is also said that “ignorance of the law is no excuse”.

It is turning out that some AMA guards under the guise of restoring sanity in the city and revenue mobilization have adopted some clandestine means and extorting money from the members of the public.

On the afternoon of April 21, two officials of this paper had gone to the Head Office of MTN to transact an urgent business and parked at an empty space obviously provided for vehicles as a car park since the yard was full to capacity.

In less than ten minutes upon their return, and to their amazement, the car had been clamped. One of the AMA guards in khaki uniform with name S.K. Senaki stood by and next to him was another one on a motorbike with a bag round his neck.

The Herald officials enquired from Senaki as to the reason for clamping their car, and were only handed a paper titled: ’violations, schedules, and fees, local government bulletin.’

Among the offences outlined include: Blocking access to premises, parked on pedestrian walk, (pavement), parked at No- parking, parked within the range before and after No Stopping indication sign, Parked in a bus stop. Etc.

Rudely, Senaki retorted that our officials had been charged for parking at a bus stop!

The shocking thing about the situation is that there was no ‘’No parking” sign anywhere at the Bus Stop to ward off motorists from parking. The place is a commercial area and the AMA clamping guards had no business being there unless of course they have other ulterior motives.

It was observed that no offense had been committed as far as the particulars listed on the paper from guard Senaki were concerned. A protest then ensued but our officers had to give in eventually because as they say; ‘The anger of the powerless is useless’, as Senaki had called in reinforcement who arrived in a commercial Urvan bus in no time.

Meanwhile, frantic phone calls were made to this number (0242881359) provided on the violator’s sheet, but the man who behaved more like George Orwell’s “Big Brother” character was snobbish and also repugnantly arrogant.

No sooner had the call ended came a towing truck ready to tow the car away to an unknown destination. The unfriendly clamping staffs then demanded to be paid amount of GHc57, or the car was going to be towed away. The money was paid and to the surprise of our staff, they turned away and were leaving after opening the clamp without issuing any receipt.

Asked the where about of the receipts, they told our officials to follow them to AMA office for the receipt. ‘’You either follow us or you take the charge sheets as the receipts”.

The question asked as the large number of people who witnessed the incident was if it was convenient for them to take the money at the scene of the so-called crime, what prevents them from issuing receipts, since there was a schedule officer who collected the money? Your guess is good as to where the money is going!

The AMA boss Alfred Vanderpuye, should know that his good works would live after he is long gone. The bold decisions he has made since becoming a mayor has been commended by many but it should be noted that education is the key to law enforcement.

But if this is a means of making money, it must seize immediately as it is very criminal, particularly the non-issuance of receipts to people.

We implore the AMA to use the money collected from our officials to erect a “No Parking” sign where the car was clamped and any other place the AMA deems unsuitable for parking.

You cannot be extorting money in the name of law enforcement. You also have a responsibility to ensure that you fulfill your side of the bargain. The years of impunity must stop and if not with you, Dr. Vanderpuye, who will stop this corruption?

--