Let's deal with posters on walls

After the lockdown communities are buzzing with activities. Some of us had the opportunity to experience Accra during the restraining orders — serene and, most importantly, neat and clean.

Areas such as Kaneshie and Circle looked so clean that one wondered if those areas were indeed part of the capital.

However, a disturbing scene was the defacing of walls with posters. Even in the lockdown period, a lot of posters were seen on walls in the city, making areas unattractive.

The flyover at the Atomic Roundabout has some of these posters and it is really an eyesore. Some of these posters have been there since 2018.

It robs structures of their qualities of enhancing the skyline.

Just as there have been dustbins provided at vantage points in parts of the city, I think the time has come for designated spaces to be provided for outdoor advertising, such as posters to avoid the situation where they are posted everywhere.

Making Accra the cleanest city in Africa can only be possible when there is strong leadership.

There is also the need for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and other municipal assemblies in the capital to fully apply the bye-laws on outdoor advertising and punish offenders.

Also, in this day and age where everything seems to be going digital, businesses and organisations must embrace and employ digital advertising to curb visual pollution in our cities.

I hope the authorities will quickly take this up and help address the issue to continue to make our capital city clean as businesses operate.

The writer, Priscilla Seyram Abdallah, is a student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).