Why are Government-owned Properties such an Eyesore in this Country?

One of the basics I learnt taking my real estate classes twenty years ago is

the fact that buildings, like us human beings, also go through life cycles.

Just as we are born and raised, cared for, pampered and turned into the

productive human beings that we become, the buildings we occupy also do have

life cycles that have to be catered to, to make them the productive assets

that serve the purposes they are built to serve.

Visit any government office in Ghana today and witness firsthand the decay,

dilapidation and filth staring you in the face. It is absolutely disgraceful

and disgusting! It is as if the occupants of these buildings don’t care a

hoot what happens to the structures they call their offices. And the irony

of it all is that these are the people who rule our country! These are the

people who actually control the purse strings of our nation, who collect our

taxes and revenues, and who actually disburse them. It is interesting to

note that when the government of Ghana produces its budget every year,

maintenance of government-owned properties always has a budgetary allocation

for each Department or Ministry. Whatever happens to that allocation

year-in-year-out, only the officials at these offices know! And these are

the same officials who find the money from these budgetary allocations to

buy big chauffeur-driven SUVs for themselves year-in-year-out to show off

the big positions they occupy.

Back in the day, during the General Kutu Acheampong regime, I was a young

student out of the School of Administration on National Service with the

State Hotels Corporation, where I saw these beautiful government –owned

hotels literally run to the ground. Two of such edifices are still around to

remind us of our poor culture of zero-maintenance. The Ambassador Hotel in

the center of Accra became a shell of itself over the years and right next

door, a French company called Novotel came around to build the first foreign

hotel in Ghana that became the envy of those in the hotel industry in our

beloved country. The same culture of zero maintenance afflicted the Meridian

Hotel in Tema, whose shell we can all see today standing tall and staring us

in the face when we drive into that city.

Just pay a visit to the Ministries area in Accra and see exactly what I am

talking about here. Paints peeling off buildings, windows broken and looking

very dirty and dusty, structures literally falling apart and the

surroundings looking very shabby. As for the toilets in government

buildings, it is better they don’t have them! So that when we go to

government buildings in Ghana, we all know that they don’t exist. They only

exist in the individual private offices of the same high government

officials who refuse to provide decent ones for us the public who actually

pay their salaries. Why have toilets that never work and never have toilet

rolls?

I think the funniest experience I had lately was going to the Accra North

Post Office to apply for a mailbox. You enter the inside of the Ghana Post

Office area and you can see and smell the unkempt structure surrounding you.

How long ago this building was ever painted, only God knows. Then you walk

next door to the Vodafone office to buy units for your landline Internet

connection and you are welcomed into a beautiful, clean office environment

with smiling and properly dressed employees with computers and sophisticated

gadgets all around them. And the people working in these Vodafone offices

are all Ghanaians too; then you ask yourself, what happened to the office

next door called the Ghana P&T, who have been here for the last 53 years

before Vodafone arrived yesterday? What happened, people?

I was in Ho the other day, to settle a speeding violation at the circuit

court. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The entire Ho court buildings that

even house the High Court are in shambles. It is a complete eyesore. I went

inside the circuit court, sat down and looked up and saw the paint literally

peeling off live in my face. It is disgraceful! And a judge sits in this

courtroom every day, dishes out his/her rulings and sees nothing wrong with

it!

Why are we doing this to our country? Don’t we have building contractors in

our country that all these government offices all over this nation could

employ and give these jobs to? Don’t we have real estate developers in our

country who are dying to get something to do, as demand for their houses has

slowed down because of the world-wide economic downturn? Are we not the same

people crying over lack of jobs in our country? Don’t we know that this is

how jobs are created, employing contractors and developers to repair

buildings, who in turn hire lots of hands to perform those jobs? Don’t we

have property management companies in Ghana who could be hired to manage and

maintain government-owned buildings and keep them clean and beautiful every

day? Isn’t that also another form of job creation with its palpable

multiplier economic effect? Why are we doing this to our country?

It is as if all these government officials don’t visit the Americas, Europe,

Canada, Asia, and Australia to see things for themselves. All their

perennial junkets overseas on conferences don’t teach them anything about

cleanliness of their offices? Even South Africa right here on our continent

is doing a good job keeping their government offices clean and beautiful.

No, our government officials don’t have to travel that far to learn how to

keep their offices clean and beautiful. They just need to visit any banking

hall or telecom company office in this country to learn how to do that. The

earlier we paid attention to this poor culture of zero maintenance, the

better for our country.

Indeed, I can’t wait for the criticisms and insults waiting to be hurled at

me for writing this article. I am ready for them. However, before you throw

your shots at me, don’t forget: I love this country too. I am just the

messenger reporting exactly what is happening on the ground in our beloved

country. Go ahead, take your shot!

Peter Atsu Tsikata

Real Estate Consultant

Millennium Properties Ghana Ltd

Direct: +233-54-541-0350

Tel: +233-30-282-4140

Cell: +233-26-655-7066

Fax: +233-30-282-4132

Efax: 775-257-1811(USA)

Email: peter@millenniumtoday.com

Web site: www.millenniumtoday.com