On Wednesday, the Roads and Highways Minister Kwasi Amoako Attah, accompanied by his deputies, were led by the Greater Accra Regional Minister Henry Quartey to the recently commissioned multi-million dollar Pokuase Interchange.
The visit was intended to seek first hand information about the spate of indiscipline which has bedeviled the interchange a few days after the commissioning.
The minister indeed said during the tour of the interchange that he and his colleague minister were there to ascertain the level of abuse of the road by commercial drivers and hawkers.
The Roads Minister was visiting the location for the first time since the commissioning, in an official capacity. Not so the Greater Accra Regional Minister who following reports of the indiscipline which was threatening the road dispatched a response team to deal with the situation having visited the location earlier.
Being a mammoth project, the only one in the West African sub-region we cannot fold our arms and allow indiscipline to compromise its quality.
The dividends for which the project was conceptualized and accomplished can only be realized only when such acts of indiscipline such as hawking on the road and the loading by commercial drivers are halted immediately.
Contraction of a three-lane road to two or even one through indiscipline by hawkers and commercial motorists should not be accepted under any circumstance.
The hawkers and commercial motorists have tried the authorities but with the clear message from the Roads Minister they should blame themselves when they defy the directives not to create a market and loading spot on the interchange.
We have observed the efforts made by the two ministers in engaging the leadership of the drivers’ union towards having them desist from the acts of indiscipline.
The municipal assembly for the area should be responsible for ensuring that that the interchange is not abused the way the hawkers and commercial drivers tried to do. The assembly should seek alternative spot for loading and offloading of passengers as the Roads Minister stated.
We especially ask that the assembly is tasked to ensure that the aforementioned breaches do not continue the success of which should be one of the criteria for determining his or her performance. Â Whoever is appointed MCE should with the support the assembly staff stop such acts from taking place on the interchange.
The pedestrian crossing constructed as an important segment of the project is in place. There is no reason therefore why pedestrians would risk their lives by racing across the the lower level of the interchange.
As they race across they tread the plants on the medians and deny us the beauty for which they were planted.
Periodic unannounced visits by both ministers and the MCE would be welcome because it would be a means of monitoring whether or not the hawkers and commercial motorists continue to do as they have been warned not to. It can also be a determinant of whether or not the MCE and his or her staff are sleeping on their jobs.