The new Messiah-Hon. Henry Quartey?

Hate him or like, the new Greater Accra Regional Minister, Honorable Henry Quartey has assumed office with the energy well-meaning citizens expect from accountable leaders. He has vowed not to be a sitting Minister but one who gets all institutions and government officials under his office busy and accountable by not countenancing indiscipline and lackadaisical behaviors.

In a society where a segment of the population benefits hugely from the “indiscipline business venture”, it is only normal to have a section expect the Minister to fail in his effort to restore sanity in Accra, headquarters of the AfCFTA Secretariat.

For one too many, as a country, we have had challenges dealing with indiscipline and the state’s inability to have a carefully-thought plan to deal with the menace has seen ordinary citizens take advantage of the whole situation since motivation is sometimes derived from some state officials who also exhibit the highest form of indiscipline with impunity. The indiscriminate blaring of sirens, rampant littering and no respect for road usage regulations will always make the list of top 10 indiscipline acts in the capital.

The Minister has indicated that his new project will not employ “Rambo-Style” in achieving results but engagement to get the right things done and irrespective of that he should expect a tall list of enemies for himself who may be government officials, party apparatchiks, among others which I believe he is much aware of, but, importantly, in his own words he says he has the support of the president.

With government struggling to find innovative ways to generate revenue during this ‘COVID times’, it is only proper that in a modern day society the Minister as part of his stakeholders’ engagement to carry out the “Make Accra Work Again Project” ponder over how to introduce community service and or cashing-in on indiscipline acts through fines. If for nothing at all, Citi FM’s War Against Indiscipline (2019) where over GH¢ 200,000 was generated from fines from traffic offenders to the state provides us with a clear case study.

Accra can definitely not be paradise overnight, but as it is always said one must begin from somewhere in order to get to a particular destination. To transform the city into the European cities we compare our country to, citizens must make conscious efforts to support the Minister. Accra must indeed work again.

The Minister’s call to action is definitely not the first of its kind where a government official or institution decides to change the Ghanaian system. Some of Honorable Quartey’s colleagues in Parliament have pledged their support but I strongly hold on to a prayer that may he not be a victim of a system who later complains of sabotage causing a halt in the entire project. May it never be said that the mission of the “new messiah” in Ghana’s political landscape was a nine-day wonder.