'NPP opposed my Abossey Okai relocation plan over fear of losing election' - Henry Quartey

Former Greater Accra Regional Minister Henry Quartey has disclosed that he had a vision to relocate spare parts dealers at Abossey Okai and transform the area into a modern West Africa Automobile Hub, but his party opposed the idea out of fear that it could cost the New Patriotic Party (NPP) votes in the constituency.

Speaking in an interview on Neat FM, Henry Quartey noted that he travelled to Dubai, where he studied how the city had developed its automobile spare parts market.

He said Dubai also has a commercial hub similar to Abossey Okai, but unlike the situation at Abossey Okai, the place was clean and well organised.

“I travelled to Dubai, and I went there to do a good study of what they have. Dubai also has a place like ‘Abossey Okai’, but you would not see even a drop of engine oil on the floor. They have shelves made of metal where they place engines and other second-hand spare parts. So, when you get there, the place is very neat,” he said.

According to him, he subsequently engaged the chiefs, traditional leaders and some shop owners at Abossey Okai about relocating the spare parts dealers and transforming the area into a modern automobile hub.

He said the traditional leaders and some of the stakeholders welcomed the idea and were happy about the proposed development.

However, the former Greater Accra Regional Minister stated that his own party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), opposed the idea, arguing that relocating the shop owners at Abossey Okai could result in the party losing the election in the area.

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“I wanted to develop the place into a modern hub where the shop owners could have proper planning, because as the place is now, shop owners don’t even have washrooms there. I spoke to the traditional leaders, and they thought it was a beautiful idea. But then my own party went and said that if we touched Abossey Okai, we would lose the election. Didn’t we lose Ablekuma South? We lost,” he stated.

Henry Quartey also disclosed that his vision went beyond the relocation of spare parts dealers. He wanted to create a garage where car dealers could sell their vehicles and establish a one-stop automobile centre.

According to him, the plan was to bring together various businesses within the automobile industry, instead of having car dealers scattered across different neighbourhoods in Accra.

He explained that the proposed development would have been known as the West Africa Automobile Hub, where people could go to find virtually anything they needed for their vehicles.

@swaytv2 I relocated the onion sellers from Agbogbloshie to Adjen Kotoku, but I couldn’t continue with the exercise because some people within the party opposed it. They believed the relocation would make the affected people vote against the party.” — Hon. Henry Quartey, Former Greater Accra Regional Minister #SwayTV #foryoupage #viralvideo #trendingvideo #NeatFM ♬ original sound - SWAY TV