Enforcing the COVID-19 protocols has never been this successful, and visibly so, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Greater Accra Region.
The lessons of the last Yuletide and the consequences thereof, greatly informed the decision of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, to adopt a different approach to enforcing the COVID-19 protocols, as spelt out by the President.
For many, the announcement prior to Easter, about special arrangements meant to ensure compliance in the region with the highest case count of COVID-19 infection, was all hot air and unfeasible.
The opposite was rather recorded, as the regional minister walked his talk and the results were hailed in street gossips.
The non-compliance hotspots, particularly the beaches, were literally, completely blocked to holidaymakers and becoming temporary ghost locations.
An observer exaggerated what he observed: “the police had virtually pitched camp along the long and windy beaches stretching from Accra to Ada.” Whether this was an exaggeration or not, nobody was able to break through the cordon anyway.
Here is to congratulate the Regional Minister and the Greater Accra Regional Police Command for a wonderful job executed.
We have been saved from a COVID-19 spike, a departure from what was countenanced in the aftermath of the last Xmas and New Year festivities.
The lesson to be learnt from the achievement of the regional minister and the police is that, with determination, success can be chalked.
We have also heard about the inroads being made in traffic management at the Madina-Zongo junction, a location notorious for indiscipline on the part of both motorists and pedestrians.
Even as we congratulate the minister and the police, we would like to point out that the gains made can easily be washed away if there is no consistency.
It is our call therefore that the minister walks his talk about making Accra work again, even as we are signing positive signs in that direction.
An outstanding feature of the operation is that, whips were neither cracked nor tables broken, as used to be the case with other enforcement attempts. The minister had in a previous engagement with the media, given the assurance that, although he was going to ensure that the bylaws were implemented, this would not take the form of the previous order of enforcers, chasing hawkers and breaking furniture, the ‘abaaye’ template.
Engaging defaulters productively, such as making them tidy up places characterised by filth, would go a long way in giving the city its desired ambience.
The last day of the holidays was yesterday, and word had it that the minister and his team were undertaking an aerial patrol along the beaches.
We are all anxious about how other assignments, such as making the Business District of the nation’s capital do without hawkers taking over the streets, pan out.