Old Salifu had a Farm… e-i… e-i… Ooooo… Sorry, I just got carried away; please forgive me for today’s Opinion is a very serious one.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took up a great challenge when he said he wants to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. It looks a very tall order from the look of things, as this dear capital city of ours is saddled, among others, with pot-holed streets, rough untarred roads, even in the sprouting residential areas, and there are ugly sights of puddles during the raining seasons, and hazy sights of fine dust blowing freely during the dry season.
Open drainages are still constructed all over, and these are filled with domestic waste and other debris. Every corner now seems to be a dumping site for refuse, and the slums are now sprouting up all over like fresh grass after the first rains. Hitherto neat and serene residential areas, like the Airport Residential Area and Roman Ridge, have now got their full quota of slums within their most serene sections, making these places an eyesore.
Our beaches are no holiday spots, and despite adverts with people enjoying themselves there, the truth is that they are filthy, unhygienic, and a total health risk. Documentaries on such hazards speak another language, differing strongly from those who sought to make-believe that our beaches are the ideal holiday spots. Fishermen are now catching more plastic waste than fish, and the question now is how healthy are our fish?
So, it is filth almost everywhere, and this is what President Nana Akufo-Addo wants to transform overnight. This job will be tedious, but not that it is impossible. The question is, what must go first?
Buildings put on waterways are demolished by the authority and the debris left there forever, breeding mosquitoes and becoming home to wild reptiles and criminals. Jerry John Rawlings, during his long reign as ruler of Ghana, ordered the demolition of some mansions in Labone, which, he claimed, where built in a passageway. At least, five buildings went down, and, to this day, no road has been constructed. This once serene part of Labone is now home to wild reptiles, criminals and slums.
So take a trip through Accra, and it seems there is no area without a touch of filth and disorder. The work to make Accra the cleanest will be tedious, but it can be done.
One other eyesore within the city is the free flow of animal traffic. Goats, sheep and cattle can trek from anywhere to anywhere, in fact, freer than we humans. We are forbidden to walk/drive through the red lights, but these animals seem to know they were born free, so they could do anything free.
What is most annoying here is that the rational man who herds them seems to have also lost his human sense of reasoning.
Cattles are herded to cool and serene areas to graze on lawns and gardens, and this is becoming a great nuisance to people in the neighbourhood.
One area which is constantly under invasion is Kanda, where we have our seat of government. Cattle herdsmen, with such impudence, herd their cattle from nearby Nima and violate the peace and serenity of Kanda, by enacting the outrageous conducts of the Fulani cattle herdsmen. The other day, a law abiding citizen living in Kanda confronted one of these lawless men. He led his cattle to graze around the walls of the Jubilee House, and ushered them into parts of residential area. When he was asked to get the beasts out of the area, he had the effrontery to dare the resident person to stop him. He added that the cattle belonged to the Vice President, Dr. Bawumia.
This could certainly not be true, since, if they were, such animals would have been kept on a farmland, and not in residence with human beings. This is how far people can go and mention any top politician, or high and mighty, as a justification to do wrong.
The cattle herdsman even violently attacked the man who was standing up to his rights and the rights of his neighbours. This is something for National Security to investigate, and put out all such people who will lie just to make sure they have their ways.
The bye-laws of the metropolis must be implemented, so that all such animals are kept out of the city. The security risk alone that can come from cattle is better imagined than experienced. Bulls can go off and attack any moving object, including humans. And we are waiting for a few people to be stabbed and trampled to death by these beasts, before we raise the alarm and blame someone for not carrying out their responsibility.
The dream to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa, can be achieved, among others, by having the whole metropolis rid off goats, sheep and cattle.
Hon. Daniel Dugan
The post And There Was Moo Moo Here and Moo Moo There appeared first on The Chronicle - Ghana News.
Old Salifu had a Farm… e-i… e-i… Ooooo… Sorry, I just got carried away; please forgive me for today’s Opinion is a very serious one. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo took up a great challenge when he said he wants to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. It looks a very tall order […]
The post And There Was Moo Moo Here and Moo Moo There appeared first on The Chronicle - Ghana News.
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