Accra, Oct. 29, GNA - Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has earmarked areas where fans, who cannot afford to pay for hotels, would be accommodated during the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament.
Mr Ali Baba Abature, Public Relations Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), told the GNA on Monday that the AMA in partnership with the Accra Venue of the Organising Committee (AVOC) of the Local Organising Committee for Ghana 2008 had identified some areas, which could serve as sleeping places for those who would not be able to afford to pay for hotel accommodation.
He said so far, the Assembly had identified Kawukudi Park, Trade Fair Centre Grounds and the area around the El Wak Sports Stadium to be used by such category of fans.
Mr Abature appealed to the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment and the Department of Social Welfare to help to rid Accra of lunatics before the commencement of the tournament.
"The AMA will do all that it can to put the city in order and it behoves other governmental agencies to complement its efforts," he said. Mr Abature, who speaking to GNA in an interview said the AMA, during one of its decongestion exercises in 2005, was able to rehabilitate about 240 lunatics at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, but due to financial constraints it could not continue with the programme. He said if the lunatics on the streets would be given the necessary attention, he believed some of them could recover and play useful roles in the society. By January next year, the PRO said, the Assembly in partnership with the Department of Urban Roads would relocate the Neoplan Station to the Transport Terminal at Achimota and prepare it for vehicles which operated at Circle. Mr Abature said AMA, in conjunction with mobile networks such as Ghana Telecom and MTN, had embarked on a beautification exercise of all ceremonial roads and provision of litterbins at vantage points 29 Oct. 07
