Crack Down On Noisemakers

Smarting under extreme criticism from the public domain, for not doing much to decongest the City of Accra and improve the sanitation situation in the country, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Chief Executive, Hon. Solomon Darko, took a swift turn when he told newsmen that his outfit has embark on plans to enforce the laws abating noise-making in the city and cracking down on street hawkers.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Hon Darko intimated that the Assembly has initiated a move to put in place a task force that would ensure that this law is being respected throughout the City of Accra.

As part of the measure, he said, the task force would be empowered to go round the city after 11:00 pm with instruments to measure noise and arrest any one or group of people found breaching the law to be arraigned before court.

Making specific reference to activities of churches within the metropolis, the Accra Major expressed regret on how fast people have established churches, drinking bars, and other forms of entertainment spots in the residential areas and closing as far as 3:00 am the next day.

The 1955 law abating noise in the city, prohibits an individual or group of individuals conducting religious service(s) not to play or cause music to be played so loudly as to cause nuisance to the public or residents in the area.

It goes on to state that no proprietor or person in charge of a nightclub, restaurant or drinking bar or entertainment spot shall play music to the extent that it would cause nuisance to the public or residents in the area.

The move by the AMA to enforce the law on noise-making and ban on drumming has come at the time Parliament is considering the enforcement of the law prohibiting these and at the same time when the traditionalists are again preparing to impose the ban on drumming and noise-making.

On the issue of clearing the streets of hawkers, Darko, pointed out that the Assembly has taken steps to ensure that hawkers are off the pavements and returned to the market.

He said the AMA is creating an enabling environment wherein the street hawkers would secure their rightful places.

To this end, he indicated that there are meetings and negotiations on-going between the AMA and stakeholders to see how best the issue can be addressed.

Darko believed that when this is done, the incident of public defecation, use of pan latrines, over-reliance on public toilets, indiscriminate waste disposal and the general insanitary conditions in the city would be things of the past.

The incident of street children and unemployment will reduce drastically.

In a related development, a last minute attempt by the Assembly to scratch out from the conference agenda the recent spate of clamping and towing of cars when in effect the AMA has not provided parking lots for car owners was met with poor explanation, when reporters questioned the authority to give reasons for the action.

Other issues that came up was whether the 24-hour RAMMS Service Company was actually paying VAT, because it has been issuing two receipts without indications of VAT. Meanwhile, the subject was tabled for the next briefing.