You are here: HomeOpinionsArticles2007 03 16Article 120885

Opinions of Friday, 16 March 2007

Columnist: Amankwah, Nana Kofi

KMA Needs Peer Pressure

Finally, Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) Chief Executive Miss Patricia Appiagyei is about to use her common sense to do the right thing, due to our peer pressure.

Enough is enough, Patricia Appiaghyei has now realize that she cannot and should not continued to stay at her comfort zone anymore and use her egotistical ideas. It’s about time she uses her common sense to implement some drastic measures that will save her job and the image of Kumasi.

On Wednesday 28th February 2007 in Ghanaian times article Patricia Appiagyei indicates that “the KMA has given house owners in the metropolis four month ultimatums to paint their buildings or face prosecution”. These laws were there for her to use almost two years ago when she had the political capital to enforce these laws but she refused.

Patricia Appiagyei has identified her own political failures in governing our city. This Justifies the point I have been making that these individual are not competent in their position which they hold.

Majority of these buildings in the central area in Kumasi such as Adum, Asafo, Bantoma, Ashtown and many other areas are inheritance property which their relatives are making a huge amount of money in rentals. These relatives are not taking care to renovate these properties. The city has to enforce this law to confiscate these building if they refuse to renovate them. These are one of the measures that has to be taken if they refuse to corporate. More stringent property tax should impose on them.

In addition, Appiagyei states that “on waste management the conditions could be better if the by law on sanitation was enforced”. This statement reaffirms my previous article “the fruition of KMA” which I suggested that the former KMA chief executive was a more innovative policy marker than Appiagyei. During the time of his term, these sanitation by laws of KMA were in full operation. After Patricia Appiagyei’s appointment as a the Chief Executive she had the mandate to enforce these laws, but she believes it was necessity but not necessary.

Common sense is common but it is not common to many people that’s why we call it common sense. Now Patricia Appiagyei is trying to apply her common sense to acknowledge that these laws are not hunky and panky laws but the laws that need to be used and govern the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. Ladies and gentleman, Appiagyei has also raised some awareness about the correction of the city revenues. These issues send a clear message that the city is in financial crisis that needs to be address. These are contentious issues. As a result of that, the assembly needs to have a vote of confidence that will allow them to have absolute control on those who are in charge of this department.

Patricia Appiagyei “lucidity” outline she has proposed won’t be a free ride for her, let all of us see and await the results of the implementation .We were also promised that the Asafo interchange project will be completed by February, now Appiagyei has promise again that the project will be completed in June. I will continue to monitor the KMA situation and inform the public about it.

Nana Kofi Amankwah (New York)

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.