IT was just a single night, not two or three, but by the time I went to bed, I could count one by one the problems facing the nation’s capital city, Accra.
I had arrived from Tamale and checked into a hostel to spend the night to enable me run some errands the next day and leave again for Tamale.
We got to Ofankor around 5:30pm after travelling for about 12 hours. I was excited, because the long journey had finally come an end and all one needed was to wait for just some few minutes to alight.
But it was not as I thought, why, because between Ofankor and State Transport Corporation (STC) yard around Circle, it took us not less than 1 hour, 30 minutes to get through the traffic. Whew! The vehicles flowed incessantly like a parade performing the slow march.
Indeed, it was not my first visit to Accra, but the situation seemed to have gone worse.
Later, we realised that one reason for the delay in traffic was due to a major construction work between Ofankor and Achimota. But, was this enough to cause such a heavy traffic, I asked my sitting mate.
As a city, are they not enough link and alternate roots linking the various suburbs? Does everybody have to use the same route till he or she gets to the intended destination?
Aside the construction, there appears to be too many automobiles in the capital city. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is driving, whether for leisure or serious business.
Come to think of it, don’t we think the country needs a policy directive regarding the usage of cars in the country? I remember I gentle once suggested that cars should be given odd and even numbers and allocated days to operate. Well, that is not a bad idea.
Also, there is the need for a national programme aimed towards making public transport the most effective means of transport. I learnt the Bus Rapid Transport system could be the panacea.
Not until we change these life threatening ‘trotros’ and open up more areas through link roads, we would continue to find more people desiring to use private vehicles. It is true that some people use private cars to satisfy social stratification demands, but how many are they.
Sometimes I wonder if the architects, planners, surveyors and engineers we have in the country are working or is it that their views are not taken on board. Whatever it is, we have to wake up.
Well, after finally arriving at the STC yard and taking another vehicle to Castle road, where my hostel was located, I settled for a while and decided to take a stroll to town to get some nice meal to close the day.
From Ridge Hospital through to Adabraka and to Circle, none of the traffic lights were working. Knowing Accra as it is, I began to feel insecure, especially between Hotel President and the Mental hospital. The area is so dark that one has to master courage to go pass these areas.
Also, from Adabraka to Circle, another reality and characteristic of life in Accra dawned on me. People were lying by the streets, in front of shops, resting their backs on electric poles and also sharing places with watchmen.
This is reflective of the difficulties that people have to go through when living in Accra without a good job. In fact, it is a characteristic of most other cities, such as in Mexico and India.
After a hard day’s labour for some peanuts or nothing at all, these helpless individuals have to look for somewhere, irrespective of the dangers and discomfort, to lay their heads and wait for the next day. And this is a daily cycle.
When our governments talk of affordable housing, I ask myself what that means. Is it housing for public and civil servants, politicians and business people?
I thought that due to the various categories of people (in terms of income) that we have in the country, housing schemes would target each group appropriately.
It is a fact that there are some people who provide us with some services, but the incomes they make cannot afford to pay for rent in a supposed “affordable” housing. Talk of security men, cobblers, hawkers, market women, ‘trotro’ mates and sanitation personnel.
What type of houses are we building for this category of people? Do we consider their needs when drafting policies and programmes? Can’t there be truly affordable indigenous, but well designed, housing schemes to cater for their needs.
We all know about bricks, bamboo, wood, plastics and other materials that could be utilised innovatively to provide places for our gallant menial workers, who we cannot do without. May be, our leaders, who are living in glass houses, are too comfortable to ponder over such matters, isn’t it? God save mother Ghana.
Now back to Adabraka, where I spotted several fast food joints known as ‘check check’. Some of them provide a mixture of incredible vegetables, rice and ‘chemicals’ served as a meal. Some of the food I realised must have stayed for only God knows how long and the so-called pepper sauce could be equated to poison.
Yet, the people of Accra eat these foods and hope to be healthy. No wonder, a lot people report for work at the OPD, whiles many others are developing irregular body shapes. Ghanaians, let’s watch what we eat, it can kill us.
The heavy traffic I mentioned earlier was missing during the night, obviously because many of the drivers had gone back home, but how I wished Accra was like this during the day.
It was these less busy roads that I followed and eventually got back to my hostel where I rested and waited impatiently for dawn to break.
By the time my eyes was finally subdued, I had realised that Accra, our beloved capital city, was faced with several challenges, notably poor traffic flow, non-functioning traffic lights, housing difficulties and the people’s over indulgence in the consumption of unhealthy foods. Something needs to be done.
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