Parliament deplores attitude towards state property

Parliament on Thursday urged Ghanaians to treat state property as carefully as their own and to inculcate that value of appreciation in children through civic education.

Members of Parliament (MPs) who were supporting a statement Mr Andrews Adjei-Yeboah, NPP-Tano South, on "State Property: The Ghanaian Attitude" deplored the careless and irresponsible attitude of those, who handle state property as if it belonged to "a faceless person or persons called government".

Mr Joe Donkor, NPP-Tano North and Deputy Minister of Social Welfare and Manpower Development, said Ghanaian attitude towards state property was deep-seated habit and that a sustained campaign was needed to instil the maintenance culture in the people.

He suggested that the Ministry of Works and Housing could institute rating awards as an incentive or penalty for those, who occupied government bungalows. They could be given annual prizes for maintaining those houses neatly and to sanction those who mishandled them. Mr Donkor said such an exercise could prick the conscience and serve as an eye-opener to those who were entrusted with the handling of state property.

Alhaji Mohammad Mumuni, NDC-Kumbungu, said the Ghanaian attitude towards state property emanated from colonialism during which the citizen saw state property as not his and that had been perpetuated from independence till today. He said it was time to instil nationalism into Ghanaians to change their mind set to enable adults to teach children the respect for state property.

Mr Samuel Buor-Karikari, NPP-Amansie West, bemoaned the careless and irresponsible attitude of workers and management towards state property, which had led to the neglect and the destruction of Meridian and City Hotels in Tema and Kumasi, respectively, and those "monuments" had been turned into haven for thieves and prostitutes. He said such lack of maintenance culture had been responsible for the bad roads in his constituency and other parts of the country.

Mr Victor Gbeho, IND-Anlo, said the state loses a lot of revenue through the careless use of state property. He expressed regret that "even some of us in Parliament are suffering because those who should have vacated bungalows they were occupying for new occupants had failed to do so thereby imposing hardship and waste of resources on their colleagues and the state."

Mr Edward Agyepong, NPP-Abetifi, said it was ironical that the Police whose vehicles emit a lot of smoke were rather arresting those drivers whose cars produced lesser smoke than theirs. He said maintenance culture was lacking sometimes due to the 10 to 20percent cut by contract awarding officials.

Dr Kwabena Adjei, NDC-Biakoye, said attitude towards state property boiled down to indiscipline and over politicisation of issues, which instead of being looked at objectively turned to be judged on partisan basis.

He said the issue of lack of maintenance culture; poor attitude towards state property and indiscipline should be tackled as integrated issues of national development.