Looming danger on Kanda Highway
A couple of weeks ago, the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Legon revealed from its survey that most of the chief executives of the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the country did not step out to see what was going wrong within their assemblies to enable them to correct them or put in place remedial measures.
That report spoke my mind. It laid out issues I had always argued and asked about. It beats my imagination why these assembly heads will allow indiscipline to fester within their jurisdictions while pretending not to see.
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With my roving lenses, I decided to capture some of the worrying activities on the Kanda Highway and demand to know from the public whether what my lenses captured were not a validation of the report.
Kanda Highway
For many years, the Kanda Highway has fast turned into a parking lot for broken-down vehicles.
Again, this highway is noted for being an area where some residents tip sand or offload cement blocks right by the side of the road, thereby narrowing the busy highway by taking up the space for vehicles. Sometimes, the double lane is reduced to a single-and-a-half lane and oncoming vehicles have to be extra careful to manoeuvre in order to avoid accidents.
Another disturbing phenomenon is the use of the highway as a garage for the fixing of motorbikes. Along the stretch from the Kaukudi traffic light towards Accra Central, there are more than six different spots taken by mechanics who ply their trade illegally on that stretch.
It may interest readers to know that some police officers with faulty bikes also go there to have their bikes fixed. Sometimes, in testing the repaired motorbikes, they face oncoming vehicles at top speed.
Again, when repairing the motorbikes, the mechanics virtually take a portion of the highway with their backs turned towards oncoming vehicles, endangering both themselves and drivers.
Assemblies aloof?
It is a fact that due to the high level of unemployment in the country, people are bound to do all they can to make ends meet. But should the assemblies sit aloof and watch people endanger their lives and those of innocent people under that guise?
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The assembly responsible for this area cannot claim not to have seen these lawless acts. These acts are so bad that they are no longer funny. Knowing how much of copycats Ghanaians are, very soon, the entire stretch will be taken over by mechanics and eventually, moving vehicles will fight for space.
What is also unfortunate about this phenomenon is that on both sides of the dual carriageway, the road authorities have mounted ‘No Parking’ signs. However, these posts have either become drying lines for some people or good spots for posting obituaries and other public announcements.
Only if the chief executives of the various assemblies would work to justify why they were appointed, much of the indiscipline in the country would not stop.
The chief executive of the assembly under which the Kanda Highway falls should bow his/her head in shame and know that he/she is not worth staying at post only for our taxes to be wasted on him/her for doing nothing.
If such lawlessness is not visible enough, then my roving lenses are all defective.