Eschew controversy in street-naming exercise — Local Government ministry

Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) have been asked to adhere strictly to guidelines attached to the street-naming exercise and also ensure that the exercise is diligently executed on time to harmonise it with the digital addressing system.

According to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, per the guidelines for the street-naming exercise, streets must not be named after the living, whether the person is a chief or a politician except under special approval by Cabinet.

The Head of the Geographic Information System (GIS) Unit of the Town and Country Planning Department under the Local Government Ministry,  Mr Chapman Owusu-Sekyere, stressed at an event in Koforidua that “the use of names of living persons, including politicians and chiefs, should be avoided. If you want a street to be named after you, the best thing is to die, so if you are still living then you don’t qualify but if you read the manual it states that there are certain special cases and must be approved by Cabinet.”

“Street names must not create controversy, neither should it be offensive or difficult to pronounce. The manual also says that even if you are a professor, the professor shouldn’t be on the signage,” he added.

The street addressing system introduced by the previous government hit a snag due to financial and technical challenges but the incumbent government is determined to complete the exercise throughout the country and harmonise the street naming system with the digital addressing system to help achieve nation-wide use of spatial data information for good governance and socio-economic development .

The Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Nana Adjei Boateng, stated that the government was committed to ensuring proper mapping of cities and towns through the digitisation of properties and parcels of land across the country for easy navigation and relevant spatial data for effective service delivery, revenue mobilisation and improved security and development.