Defacement of Our City - SIT UP AMA!

Aside the heaps of filth that refuse collection agencies struggle to deal

with on a daily basis, the aesthetic quality of the capital is under an


increased threat each passing day, reeling under the scourge of


indiscriminate pasting of posters.





Electricity poles, street posts, telecom and electricity transformers, walls


of residences, bill boards, traffic lights, kiosks, containers, sign posts,


bus stops and overhead bridges most especially have all not been spared of


this scourge.





These posters come in “assorted” ranges from film posters – of predominantly

Ghanaian and Nigerian origins - political party posters, crusade notices by


churches, company advertisements; even job seekers and job owners jostle for


space, not to talk of the herbal healers and loan companies. The landscape


of any surface can best be described as chaotic to say the least.





And the amazing thing is, city authorities day-in and day-out go past this


sad state of affairs without any action in this respect. The Accra


Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) I am under no doubt, has regulations in their


bye-laws to check what is turning out to be a messy and untidy capital.

The most hit areas by this scourge are our overhead bridges. From the


Shangri-La Overpass to the New and Old Achimota overheads, all the way to


Nkrumah Circle Overpass, the Kanda Overpass, the Circle overhead bridge and


then to the Ako-Adjei Interchange, indeed the uncompleted overhead at Mile 7


– right in front of Peace Fm has not escaped the actions of the unscrupulous


people who surreptitiously paste these posters under the cover of darkness.





Void of any formula and format, anyone with a poster and glue can paste


posters all over the place with amazing impunity - pasting on existing


posters has brought about an indiscriminate and free-for-all process that in

the end worsens the extent of defacement. In the long run, the refuse


collection agencies are forced to clean the torn pieces and yet people


continue to paste. Question, *“For how long shall this pertain?”*





Any one hardly moving from one place to another within the capital without


setting eyes on one poster or the other, which compromises the aesthetic


quality of most flat surfaces around the whole place, the multi million


dollar question stands as,* “What are the city authorities doing to right


this blatant wrong?”**


*

The AMA might have to track and arrest the people who go round defacing our


city, take punitive measures against them, maybe to serve as a deterrent to


others, considering that the AMA cannot hold owners of the notices liable.





Bottom line is, *the city is being defaced and something most definitely


must be done, and quick.*


by Shaban Barani Alpha


newcguide@gmail.com/ alfarsenal@yahoo.com