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Making Accra A Must Visit City in Africa- Metropolitan Chief Executive Adjei Sowah In Action

January 24, 2018

By Ajong Mbapndah L [caption id="attachment_43189" align="alignleft" width="1000"]Hon Adjei Sowah with PAV's Ajong Mbapndah L at his AMA Office in Accara,Ghana Hon Adjei Sowah with PAV's Ajong Mbapndah L at his AMA Office in Accara,Ghana[/caption] Calm, soft spoken, witty, and confident, Hon Adjei Sowah is the very epitome of the legendary Ghanaian hospitality on full display in the capital city of Accra that he leads. Appointed by President Nana Akuffo Addo, and unanimously endorsed by all  Council members as Metropolitan Chief Executive of Ghana’s capital city Accra in March of last year, Hon Adjei Sowah has been a busy man catering to needs of the four million people who live and interact within Accra on a daily basis. Established in 1898 and referred to at some point as the City Council, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly that Adjei Sowah heads manages the entire city of Accra. While its land size may have shrunk over the years with creation of districts within the Metropolitan Assembly, the city of Accra still has a resident population of about two million people. During the day, the permanent residents of the city are joined by a floating population of another two million who come in for work and diverse commercial activities before returning to their homes outside Accra in the evenings. The life of the city is on commerce says Adjei Sowah as major markets in Ghana like Makola, Kantamanto, Kaneshie  and others are found within Accra. The city is very cosmopolitan in nature with people from diverse backgrounds and regions all cohabiting peacefully. Interviewed by Ajong Mbapndah L for PAV, Hon Adjei Sowah introduces his city ,progress towards making it the cleanest city in Africa as prescribed by President Akufo Addo, and more. Good afternoon sir and Happy New year, Hon. Adjei Sowah Hon Adjei Sowah: Many Happy returns and happy new year to all of you too, And thanks so much for taking time out off your busy schedule to grant this Interview  Hon Adjei Sowah:.  Thank you, it’s a pleasure You are the Metropolitan Chief Executive of Accra, can you start by introducing your city?  Hon Adjei Sowah: The Accra metropolitan assembly used to be called the city council, it was established in 1898 and as an authority that manages the entire city of Accra. The land size of Accra has been shrinking over the years by the creation of districts within the metropolitan assembly largely because of the increase in number of city dwellers. You are also aware of urbanisation; it brings a lot of people into the city. It used to start from somewhere in Nungua to Accra, and now Nungua, Techiman have been taken away. And today we start from the boundaries of Lar, then to the boundaries of Acho, which is ghana east and then to the boundaries of Ga central and then that of Ga south. The city has a resident population of about two million referenced to the population in housing censured figures. But another floating population of two million plus, and that’s because of the influx of people into the city. So during the day, we are working with more than four million people within the city, and then in the evening people go back to their homes, which is outside the city. And all the major markets in Ghana are within Accra and the life of the city is on commerce, and that’s what attracts people into the city, all kind of things are sold within the city. So, all the major markets; Makola, Kantamanto, kaneshie, they are certain unique markets also as well. For instance Kantamanto is like a second hand clothing market, Agbogbloshie is foodstuff market, Makola is hardware market, so all the markets are in Accra. It’s cosmopolitan also in nature despite the fact that the indigenous people are Ga people, that’s fishing but because it is a city, all manner of people are in the city, the Akans, the Ewes, the Nowes, the northerners, are all in the city, so it’s very cosmopolitan in nature. [caption id="attachment_43191" align="alignleft" width="800"]Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah(third from left) being introduce as the new Accra Mayor by the Electoral officer from EC.Photo.Ebo Gorman. He received unanimous support from Assembly members Mr Mohammed Adjei Sowah(third from left) being introduce as the new Accra Mayor by the Electoral officer from EC.Photo.Ebo Gorman. He received unanimous support from Assembly members[/caption] You were appointed to office around March  Hon Adjei Sowah:  Sure, 24th march What specific assignments did president Akufo task you with? Hon Adjei Sowah: Well, because you are in charge of the city, there are certain basic things that you need to do right, in the area of social services, education, infrastructure and a couple of things that you do. And the President also indicated that sanitation is high on the agenda, he has stated clearly that it is his wish that by the end of his tenure, Accra will become the cleanest city in Africa. So, we are working hard towards achieving the dreams of the President, in addition to that we are launching the Accra beautification project to ensure that all open spaces and mediums have been greened and landscaped in Accra to beautify the city and to transform and create value for businesses in Accra. So we’ve also launched the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan because this is a city and the influx of people that come into the city, we are very much concerned about traffic, not only vehicular traffic, but human traffic. If you walk around the city by this time, within the central business district, everywhere is choked, both vehicular and human traffic. So we are working hard to decongest the city, and make sure that markets outside the central business are also functioning. People also don’t sell on the street, in the pedestrian walkway; they get into the markets to sell so that pedestrians can freely walk on the pedestrian walkways. So these are some of the things that we wanted to do, just to make sure that we tackle the issue of traffic situation in Accra. The second thing is about education, once the number of people are increasing, the population is increasing,  it must also correspond with the infrastructure I.e the education, your drainage system and all kind of things that is supposed to dwell them with. Indeed the president’s initiative of ensuring that education is largely free right from the basic level to SHS has also triggered increase in enrolment, and that is also putting pressure on education infrastructure. So, education infrastructure is key that we need to expand the education infrastructure and even improve upon the existing infrastructure to ensure that people get access to the education in order to give full meaning to the free education that the central government is also pushing hard to ensure that it does it. Now, the previous Metropolitan Chief Executive  was from a different political party? Hon Adjei Sowah: Sure  In what shape did you meet the city when you took office?   Hon Adjei SowahWell, I must say that largely they didn’t leave any foundation for you to build upon it. For instance in the area of sanitation, it has always been a fire fighting approach, there is no proper system to deal with the issue of sanitation, that this is where you started from and we are continuing with it. So basically you have to start from ground zero to start everything afresh to ensure that you build a system and the system would be working. One, in the city you can’t have a land full site in Accra, because land is prime, but we generate over 2,800 tons of waste within the city everyday and it must be disposed off, and disposal takes a lot of time because a round trip of 90 kilometres, when one truck leaves Accra by the time it returns back, the day is already gone, you can’t go twice. And in modern city management, you construct what is called a transfer system where refuse collected within the city are disposed off at a transfer station, and the transfer station’s responsibility is then to carry the refuse to its final disposal site, so there are bigger haulage trucks there that can be able to convey them. We’ve  supported a private developer, and we now have one transfer station in Accra, which is located at Achimota and we need to build two more within the city to be able to receive all the waste that we generate in the city. Hopefully by the end of this month, we will cut out to also start constructing one more to receive the waste. So, these are basic things that if we have been able to do, we will be able to collect the waste before you go to the medium term planning of what to use the waste for, for recycling or for waste to energy and these purposes. At  the moment you need to occupy your mind on how to collect the waste first, then the second subject is what you use the waste for, that is what we are engaged in. [caption id="attachment_43192" align="alignleft" width="1000"]A bronze statue of Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), stands in Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in downtown Accra.It is one of the numerous touristic attractions in the city of Accra A bronze statue of Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), stands in Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park in downtown Accra.It is one of the numerous touristic attractions in the city of Accra[/caption] It’s been about 9 month now since you took office, in addition to what you just said, if you had to draw a balance sheet, what will you cite as some of the things that you have achieved- some of the things that have changed since you took over as the metropolitan chief executive of Accra. Hon Adjei Sowah: One of the key things that we have done is to first of all change the mind of the people, and let people come to the realisation that we don’t live with filth, that is key. So, we have hightened people's attention and today even if they see a small refuse anywhere, people start to complain, people start to talk about it. Hitherto, it’s not an issue, heaps of refuse can be found everywhere. In fact when I came to office, they were about forty-two illegal dump sites in Accra, and I have closed down 70% of them and 30%, we are on course trying to close it down. They were created largely because the tricycles that were operating in the system collecting the household waste can not travel at 90 kilometres round trip to go and dump, so they created their own illegal dump site. And this is where the transfer station when they come in, they will be able to receive. So, it is the closure of the illegal dump sites and the coming in of the transfer station which is a major achievement. We haven't closed all because it is important for us to give access to the tricycles, If we don't give them access, then they will be dumping the waste on the streets of Accra and that shouldn't happen. Number two, in terms of our revenue mobilisation, it appears that everybody has got his own form of ticket that it issues to city- those who come to do business in the city as a way of collecting money and you are unable to authenticate the receipt that is issued to you to pay. And we've changed that system making sure that everybody who is paying for a service has to go use the POS machine which we are able to track how much you have paid, what time you paid. And from where I sit I will know that Koffi had issued a receipt to you for this service and how much you have paid and at what time. So the collector itself is unable to issue a fake ticket. And number two, if he collects the money from you, he does not need to come to me before I know how much he has been able to collect. And these are very simple tools that are available that we are imploring to use over here. And you are also the former Greater Accra Regional Secretary.... Hon Adjei Sowah: And even before you end, you walked into this office and this happens to be the City Authority’s office. Look at this place, very small, car parking is an issue, meanwhile you go around and trump people's car from parking at unauthorised places. This is not something that I'm happy about, this is not something that we should encourage. Relatively, you're a young person and I think that if we want to leave a legacy, the thing that we need to build a modern office. So when I came to office I builded a new office complex, a three-story with a huge auditorium, and an office which befits the city authority that when you walk in, you'll know that you are walking into your office. And by February, we'll commission that office and start using that office so that when you're coming, you know that you're coming to do real business and not in this environment. This is not what we should encourage. So Hon. Adjei is also the former regional Secretary of New Patriotic Party (NPP) Hon Adjei Sowah:   Yeah So how do you balance your role as a party man and as Chief Executive of the Accra metropolitan? Hon Adjei Sowah:  Well, since I assumed this office, I've relinquished that particular position as regional Secretary because there'll be even a conflict of interest because in this position, you're supposed to serve the totality of Ghanaians and not necessarily your party faithfuls. So I have relinquished that particular position. It is a position that I duly cherished, I held that position at the interest for the people and I've learnt a lot working with people, how to deal with individuals on a political font. I was there for two terms and I really miss that position. And to those who have not had the privilege of visiting Accra, can you give us a couple of reasons why they should visit your city. Hon Adjei Sowah:   Well, first of all, Accra is a city where life goes on; you need to live it, love it. If you come into Ghana, you are first of all welcomed to Accra. The good thing is that the people are very nice people. There are many cities that you can't walk in the night. In the city of Accra, you are safe, you can walk around 24 hours and nobody hurts you, there's no attack on you. The people are also very nice and there are quite an  interesting places also to visit for fun and for tourism as well. If you go to the old Accra where we interfaced with the whites during the colonial period of slavery, all these houses are still there and you can see the general post office. The general post office as it is, it's just been repainted but the structure as it is pre colonial time is the same thing that is and you will marvel when you see those pictures. So it's a very interesting city, the people here are also hardworking and everybody is finding some business to do, service you know, very important. We have 24 hours electricity unlike other cities in Africa where their light can go off every five minutes and come back. We have free flow of water. The basic social amenities are available in Accra. So I think that anytime you come to Accra, you will feel very welcome to the city. [caption id="attachment_43194" align="alignleft" width="600"]Ensuring a filth-free City remains one of the priorities of Hon Adjei Sowah Ensuring a filth-free City remains one of the priorities of Hon Adjei Sowah[/caption] And just as we are about to wrap this up, one of the things I also noticed in the city was Churches everywhere. So when do people have the time to help you keep the city clean, when do people have the time to do other activities when there are Churches Churches Churches everywhere? Hon Adjei Sowah:  I think that is an African phenomenon and I can give you my wide reasons as well to that. Generally, the churches are coming from Europe and America and they have settled here. Those day when Europe and America were going through their struggle, they were also compelled to look up to God for their survival, now that they may be on their feet, people hardly go to Church and think about God in America and Europe and sometimes people also want to compete with God. This is Africa, we believe in god and we worship god in various forms and shape. We believe in traditional religion and in fact, our lives, our culture in itself tend to appreciate god and we express it in various forms. So it is not only people who go to Church but people who also sit in their quiet corner, they don't go to Church but they believe in God, we believe in God. I don't think we can find and atheist in this country but we can find people like that somewhere else. And your mandate is supposed to last for four years. So when I come back to visit Accra in four years, how different will Accra be from what it is today? Hon Adjei Sowah:  Well I think that you are going to be a very beautiful city, enhanced, you are going to see a clean city, you are going to see a green city, you're going to see a city that employs ICT tools in working, and you are going to see a very bubbling city, residents are thriving and everybody will be happy and smiling, maybe you are going to see a happy city. Thank you very much for talking to Pan African visions Hon Adjei Sowah : Thank you very much, it’s a pleasure https://soundcloud.com/multimedia-podcast/ajongs-interview-with-accra-mayor-01-02-2018-2

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