Destruction, theft of public property: Culprits must be found, surcharged
Last Thursday’s report by the Daily Graphic on the vandalisation of the Achimota Bound Road Retaining Wall on the south side of the Tantra Hill underpass in Accra will come as no surprise to those who have followed the continuous destruction of anything metallic on our roads lately.
Sadly, this trend has continued with authorities looking on haplessly, as the culprits after having a field day, go undetected.
Whole street light poles, electric cables and bulbs are removed by ‘unknown’ persons; rail guards, bolts and nuts as well as road sign posts vanish, traffic lights are destroyed and metal covers of drains on our streets are stolen by scrap dealers, replaced and stolen again, and the cycle continues.
It is strange that these public items which are meant to keep pedestrians and motorists safe are stolen by others who think they are smarter and can make some money from them, while the public is endangered.
Elsewhere this cannot go on because the citizens quickly report such activities and the people involved to the authorities, while there are cameras and security personnel stationed almost everywhere, serving as a disincentive for such nefarious activities to be carried out.
Our street cameras at road intersections that have increased over time should help us to arrest most of the culprits, apart from helping to find and apprehend road traffic offenders.
Most times the stealing of parts of equipment or infrastructure on our roads and at public places are done under the cover of darkness, just as happened to the Achimota Bound Road Retaining Wall because having functioning street lights on our roads has become a major challenge.
So we ask; which outfit or government agency is responsible for the street lights for which we are charged anytime we purchase electricity power?
New roads are always inaugurated with beautiful street lights amidst pomp and circumstance, but all the lights burn out in no time, the poles are left forlorn and before long they mysteriously also vanish.
One of the key ways we can arrest the trend of vandalised state infrastructure is to get our communities and streets well lit at night to prevent the nation wreckers from attacking them.
The Daily Graphic has also noticed that some unpatriotic citizens and even foreigners get the audacity to vandalise and steal parts of state infrastructure when they realise that they are defective and need maintenance but they have been neglected by authorities whose duty it is to see that they are functioning properly.
Can we please do something about our poor maintenance culture as a nation?
If we do not do these, we would continue to replace the stolen parts and repair the vandalised infrastructure, but the unpatriotic elements would visit mayhem on them once again in a continuous cycle.
The taxpayer would be left the poorer, as taxes would still be demanded of the Ghanaian worker but our problems will remain unsolved.
We must be able to nip this challenge of the wanton destruction of state property meant for public safety in the bud, through the multi-pronged approach enumerated – working street lights, policing of the infrastructure, designing of a simple yet attractive mechanism of reporting the theft and destruction of infrastructure and ensuring regular maintenance of public infrastructure.
We may even consider the banning or outlawing of scrap collection or dealing as has been done by Kenya.
Our checks have shown that most of the metals used in covering drains, the bolts and nuts and guard rails affixed at the side of roads to protect the motoring public are stolen by scrap dealers.
The local assemblies have a greater responsibility of ensuring the proper functioning and protection of state infrastructure, and we urge the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to team up with law enforcement agencies to ensure that public structures serve their purpose.
