Why are Government-owned Properties such an Eyesore in this Country?

One of the basics I learnt taking my real estate classes twenty years ago is
the fact that buildings, like us human beings, also go through life cycles.
Just as we are born and raised, cared for, pampered and turned into the
productive human beings that we become, the buildings we occupy also do have
life cycles that have to be catered to, to make them the productive assets
that serve the purposes they are built to serve.

Visit any government office in Ghana today and witness firsthand the decay,
dilapidation and filth staring you in the face. It is absolutely disgraceful
and disgusting! It is as if the occupants of these buildings don’t care a
hoot what happens to the structures they call their offices. And the irony
of it all is that these are the people who rule our country! These are the
people who actually control the purse strings of our nation, who collect our
taxes and revenues, and who actually disburse them. It is interesting to
note that when the government of Ghana produces its budget every year,
maintenance of government-owned properties always has a budgetary allocation
for each Department or Ministry. Whatever happens to that allocation
year-in-year-out, only the officials at these offices know! And these are
the same officials who find the money from these budgetary allocations to
buy big chauffeur-driven SUVs for themselves year-in-year-out to show off
the big positions they occupy.

Back in the day, during the General Kutu Acheampong regime, I was a young
student out of the School of Administration on National Service with the
State Hotels Corporation, where I saw these beautiful government –owned
hotels literally run to the ground. Two of such edifices are still around to
remind us of our poor culture of zero-maintenance. The Ambassador Hotel in
the center of Accra became a shell of itself over the years and right next
door, a French company called Novotel came around to build the first foreign
hotel in Ghana that became the envy of those in the hotel industry in our
beloved country. The same culture of zero maintenance afflicted the Meridian
Hotel in Tema, whose shell we can all see today standing tall and staring us
in the face when we drive into that city.

Just pay a visit to the Ministries area in Accra and see exactly what I am
talking about here. Paints peeling off buildings, windows broken and looking
very dirty and dusty, structures literally falling apart and the
surroundings looking very shabby. As for the toilets in government
buildings, it is better they don’t have them! So that when we go to
government buildings in Ghana, we all know that they don’t exist. They only
exist in the individual private offices of the same high government
officials who refuse to provide decent ones for us the public who actually
pay their salaries. Why have toilets that never work and never have toilet
rolls?

I think the funniest experience I had lately was going to the Accra North
Post Office to apply for a mailbox. You enter the inside of the Ghana Post
Office area and you can see and smell the unkempt structure surrounding you.
How long ago this building was ever painted, only God knows. Then you walk
next door to the Vodafone office to buy units for your landline Internet
connection and you are welcomed into a beautiful, clean office environment
with smiling and properly dressed employees with computers and sophisticated
gadgets all around them. And the people working in these Vodafone offices
are all Ghanaians too; then you ask yourself, what happened to the office
next door called the Ghana P&T, who have been here for the last 53 years
before Vodafone arrived yesterday? What happened, people?

I was in Ho the other day, to settle a speeding violation at the circuit
court. I couldn’t believe what I saw. The entire Ho court buildings that
even house the High Court are in shambles. It is a complete eyesore. I went
inside the circuit court, sat down and looked up and saw the paint literally
peeling off live in my face. It is disgraceful! And a judge sits in this
courtroom every day, dishes out his/her rulings and sees nothing wrong with
it!

Why are we doing this to our country? Don’t we have building contractors in
our country that all these government offices all over this nation could
employ and give these jobs to? Don’t we have real estate developers in our
country who are dying to get something to do, as demand for their houses has
slowed down because of the world-wide economic downturn? Are we not the same
people crying over lack of jobs in our country? Don’t we know that this is
how jobs are created, employing contractors and developers to repair
buildings, who in turn hire lots of hands to perform those jobs? Don’t we
have property management companies in Ghana who could be hired to manage and
maintain government-owned buildings and keep them clean and beautiful every
day? Isn’t that also another form of job creation with its palpable
multiplier economic effect? Why are we doing this to our country?

It is as if all these government officials don’t visit the Americas, Europe,
Canada, Asia, and Australia to see things for themselves. All their
perennial junkets overseas on conferences don’t teach them anything about
cleanliness of their offices? Even South Africa right here on our continent
is doing a good job keeping their government offices clean and beautiful.
No, our government officials don’t have to travel that far to learn how to
keep their offices clean and beautiful. They just need to visit any banking
hall or telecom company office in this country to learn how to do that. The
earlier we paid attention to this poor culture of zero maintenance, the
better for our country.

Indeed, I can’t wait for the criticisms and insults waiting to be hurled at
me for writing this article. I am ready for them. However, before you throw
your shots at me, don’t forget: I love this country too. I am just the
messenger reporting exactly what is happening on the ground in our beloved
country. Go ahead, take your shot!

Peter Atsu Tsikata
Real Estate Consultant
Millennium Properties Ghana Ltd
Direct: +233-54-541-0350
Tel: +233-30-282-4140
Cell: +233-26-655-7066
Fax: +233-30-282-4132
Efax: 775-257-1811(USA)
Email: peter@millenniumtoday.com
Web site: www.millenniumtoday.com