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KMA Call For Support - Rejoinder

Wed, 24 May 2006 Source: Amankwah, Nana Kofi

The Ghana News Agency?s article on Sunday, 14 May 2006 ?KMA Calls for Support? by Patricia Appiagyei, she does not need one year to carry out her agenda. Since Patricia Appiagyei became the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, what has she done to improve the environmental dilemma in respect to restoring Garden City?s image? As the newly appointed Chief Executive who has political capital, she couldn?t use it to stop those who have turned pedestrian places and other places, which was not a market place, into markets. Appiagyei believes these sellers needed to sell their goods in these areas as a economic necessity. These individual are destroying the image of Garden City, and must be stopped.

As a policymaker it is her obligation to enforce the laws on these sellers to move them from such places, and relocate them in a common place. Her predecessor was able to stop these storeowners who have turned the main roads at Adum and other places into parking lots. What have you done to implement strict laws on these people? The fact that they have their businesses does not give any of them the authority to park their cars to cause a huge traffic congestion in these areas. And from Ashanteman secondary school to kejetia, People who have established their own markets behind the Zoo. What have you done about it?

This is not an egocentric issues, but demonstrates her inability to stop those who are flooding public places as market places and her failure to rescue the city from these people. Just because she doesn?t want to be blamed for doing the right thing, that is the reason why. You have to take a position in fighting this stigma on environmental issues in Kumasi with a drastic measure. That is the only way to stop these people. It is her duty to put peer pressure on the contractor who is dong the Asafo interchange; because the contractor cannot continue to waist more than four years to complete the projects.

Patricia Appiagyei indicates that there is a need to be circumspect about our reportage, she said press freedom is truly prevailing in the country but please do not forget to cross check your facts from the designated point of the assemble before any publication. My message to her is this; you are in public office, so if you cannot take the heat, please stay out of the kitchen.

Former Ashanti regional minister, Sampson Kwaku Boafo went to Detroit in November 2001 with some businessman from the Ashanti region to try and promote business links with the General Motors and also meet the CEO and his executives. As a regional minister who is going on a business trip on behalf of your region, Kwaku Boafo could not even have an investment brochure for the Ashanti region to show it to these GM executives. How can you convince the General Motors executive to come to Ghana and invest in the Ashanti Region? We have over 50 Ghanaians engineers in Ford alone and more at the GM and Chrysler who could have helped Sampson Kwaku Boafo prepare immediate brochure for him and also assist him in meeting with their sales representatives and marketing groups. Sampson Kwaku Boafo even refused to talk to these Ghanaian engineers at the institutions. If Sampson Kwaku Boafo has a vision but not arrogance attitudes towards these Ghanaians, he wouldn?t have gone back to Ghana empty handed. So, Patricia Appiagyei, we are not writing these articles without facts. My advice to you is this; the only way you can govern Kumasi effectively is by adopting drastic measures and enforce the laws without any form of nepotism or preferences. I hope you reconsider the aforementioned dilemma to resolve my directives. Also, in order for you to avoid future media confrontation with me, please do your job without any prejudices.

Nana Kofi Amankwah (New York)

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.

Columnist: Amankwah, Nana Kofi