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Streets Naming And Properties Addressing “Exercise”

By Samuel Antwi-Boasiako
Article Streets Naming And Properties Addressing Exercise
OCT 15, 2015 LISTEN

I have been plying the Nkawkaw-Kumasi portion of the Accra-Kumasi highway (one major road in the country, officially known as N6 but not called) almost every weekend. This road, for a fact, links the two busiest and biggest cities in the country. Busiest in all forms: business, politics, population density, development, and probably indiscipline. As a Midcareer Urban Planner and Manager, I was an ardent advocate for the “Street Naming And Property Addressing Exercise initiated by the President. This exercise was long overdue, and our planners and city managers should have seen the need and importance to do it on their own without a presidential directive.

However, some ingenious and innovative Local Authorities (Assemblies) had done their best to the situation; naming most of their paramount streets; so one can easily make mention of Paul Sagoe Lane, Prempeh II Street and the likes in Kumasi. Also most of the old cities/towns that were inhabited by our colonial masters also had some streets named so one can mention Church hill Avenue in Cape Coast. And some old towns like Larteh also has a simple way to name clustered areas (streets) with labels on buildings to beautifully identify them and give clear directions before the most famous Presidential Directive.

The Presidential Directive only enforced the replication of those feats indicated above by all Local Authorities to ensure easy tax forecasting and revenue mobilization by them and other reasons like easy navigation within towns. Heads of the Local Authorities (MMDCEs) are responsible and answerable to the President, mainly because s/he appoints them and holds the sole power to FIRE them whenever s/he pleases without giving any reason(s) whatsoever. The MMDCEs are always in a haste to implement government directives even if the blue prints (MTDPs) of the Local Authority do not propose such activities to be done and whether the directive seeks to promote the achievement of the overall goal of the Assembly.

So during most of my trips to and from Kumasi, I have observed with keen interest how some Assemblies went about the implementation of the Presidential Directive to name all (most) streets and address properties therein. In those observations, I have at some point had to bow down my head (not utterly in shame but in shock too) that I am an upcoming urban planner and manager; and I say quietly to myself “Wow what Professionals we have”. Let me hasten to add, I am not better than those ahead of me. However, this single road that links these two huge centre poles has got several names. So the simple questions I usually ask myself are: where was the Ghana Highways Authority and Ministry of Highways in this whole exercise?? Was the Highways part of the consultative process at all in any of the Assemblies along the Nkawkaw-Kumasi portion of the N6? Did the Assemblies do proper consultations before the exercise begun and even during implementation or they were just satisfying their “pay master” and keeping their jobs?? Couldn’t there be generic and uniformity in the whole exercise?

In Nkawkaw for example, some portion of the road is named as Nkawkaw High Street, another portion as Accra Road and another portion named Kumasi Road and one wonders how the road is interspersed. When one gets to Konongo, the road is the Konongo Highway; when you get to Ejisu it is named Ejisu-Kumasi and Ejisu-Accra roads from the Yaa Asantewaa Roundabout. So who have to name such roads because they are national in nature and even international because they transcend local boundaries.

In the street naming exercise, some links and loops were named as roads while some avenues and closes named streets and roads. I guess the directive, though had a timeline, was not supposed to make the “exercise” a one-time activity. We have to improve on it gradually because I am shy asking my way around all the time.

Sometimes we fail ourselves as professionals in our profession. The Engineers and Town and Country Planners (Physical Planning Departments) of our Assemblies could have done us a little good by consulting entirely all “stakeholders” in such programmes or probably the President could have taken away timelines and the threat of sacking MMDCEs who wouldn’t have completed the implementation of the directive before the deadline. Since the fear of sacking caused panic and allowed blatant non-adherence to some underlying principles that could have made the whole process a success.

But hey it is a nice start, we just have to continue to improve upon it since it is not a one-time exercise. Most Assemblies have gone to sleep on the whole exercise since the deadline elapsed. There are still plenty streets yet to be named and properties yet to be addressed. If the whole process doesn’t fully complete, the commitment already made would be a farce. Meanwhile, if they refused to name your street, do it yourself like the Dadieso Blengo Street. That is one of the kind along the road I have observed. And someone tell the officials to address my property so I can tell the post master to come home…………….

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