The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), has directed all political parties and candidates to remove all bill boards bearing their symbols, images and slogans used in the last presidential and parliamentary elections with immediate effect. Candidates in the last district assembly elections who used billboard to campaign are also advised to comply with the directive.

The Presiding Officer of the AMA, Mr. Ben Anann, said in an interview yesterday that the decision is in line with the enforcement of general rules and by laws of the city. He said political parties and other social groups choke the metropolis with the indiscriminate erection of billboards without regard for the regulations on the siting of publicity materials for campaign and other purposes.

He said failure to comply would result in surcharging the candidate or the political party with the cost of removal by the metro guards, or prosecution. "This should not be misinterpreted as a plot to antagonize any particular political party but should rather be seen in a positive light, as our commitment to bring sanity in the metropolis."

Under normal circumstances and for commercial purposes, Mr. Anann said, approval should be sought from the AMA, which would conduct an inspection of the proposed location and take other factors into consideration before giving the applicant permission to put up a billboard. The practice currently is that large billboards are being erected at unapproved locations in the city such as along highways and junctions that could cause accidents or serious injuries especially to road users, with political parties and candidates being the worse offenders.

The Presiding Officer said however that political parties are allowed to mount billboards as part of their activities to canvass for votes from the electorate but this must end with the declaration of the results in the said electoral contest. "We consider that the period for active political campaign begins from the date of filing nominations to the end of that particular election, after which all publicity materials especially billboards must no longer exist," he said.

Mr. Anann said, personally he holds the view that it doesn't promote consensus building at both national and local levels of society to have billboards, portraits and effigies of political opponents dotted around, when an elected person is sworn into office. "I feel that could be provocative for the elected person and may create a problem for consensus building and unity in the area," he said.

There is also the possibility that in the event of a political party deciding to change their candidate for an area for the next elections, he said, the electorate may be confused with the continuous existence of the image of the former candidate.

Road users ADM randomly spoke to were of the opinion that the exercise should immediately cover all billboards, since some of them are so haphazardly sited that they block vision especially at junctions.