Front view of one of the structures just behind the public toilet at Kejetia
Concerns have been raised about the haphazard manner in which structures are springing up in the Central Business District (CBD) of Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.
Some of these structures, especially at Kejetia, are cited at places which were not intended for such purposes in the original plan of the metropolis, raising eyebrows about the efficient or otherwise nature of members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA).
Clean City Initiative (CCI), an environmental pressure group in Kumasi, has, in apparent displeasure at the development, called on the city authorities to “respond to duty call” as maintenance of the metropolis and ensuring law and order was the main reason they were voted into office.
In a statement released to the press on Monday, June 28, the CCI registered their displeasure at the congestion at the Kejetia Bus Terminal, which was seriously breeding notoriety among drivers.
Signed by Barima Owusu Amankwah, the spokesman and Nana Agyeman Duah, the Secretary, the statement said the terminal which boasted as the largest of its kind in West Africa was gradually being overtaken by shops constructed by people who cared nothing about other people’s plight but theirs’ alone.
The statement noted that because of the several structures constructed at the terminal, drivers find difficulty in driving out of the terminal sometimes spending up to an hour before getting the chance to drive out of the terminal.
Because of this, most of them flout the assembly’s bye-laws and load on the streets instead of entering the lorry park.
Some of these structures are also found at pathways and pavements further increasing the stress of pedestrians, sellers and buyers who use such areas.
They described as unfortunate the way “structures were being built haphazardly as if we have no mandated institution to take care of it”, adding that authorities in charge had not lived up to their needed expectations.
They advised the general public and the KMA that “in all that we do, we must necessarily put the interest of the nation first before our parochial interest”.
STORY: FROM JAMES APPIAKORANG JNR., KUMASI