General News of Tuesday, 26 September 2006

Source: accra daily mail (iddrisu@accra-mail.com)

VRA, ECG workers got it wrong – Nana Ofori

The Head of Communications at the Ministry of Public Sector Reform (MPSR), Nana Ofori Owusu, has condemned the alleged harassment of AMA traffic wardens by some workers of ECG and VRA whose cars were clamped for parking at unauthorized places in the Ministries area.

In an interview with the ADM yesterday in Accra, Nana Ofori dismissed claims by the said workers of ECG and VRA that they could park on streets around the Electro-Volta House because the said streets were tarred by the VRA.

“None of the streets in the Government Business Area belongs to any individual organization in the area. All the streets here belong to the government, irrespective of which organization tarred them”, he explained.

“Parking at a ‘No Parking” space is a clear violation of the law irrespective of the mindset that an organization tarred the road so they could park anywhere. Each building here in the Government Business Area has a space designated for parking and just because that space is inadequate doesn’t give one the mandate to break the law”, he said.

Nana Ofori Owusu said the MPSR is in full support of efforts being made by the AMA to decongest Accra especially the Government Business Area, which is a restricted area.

He said the MPSR in conjunction with other Ministries, Office of the Head of Civil Service and other stakeholders are in full support of the AMA’s efforts as the Ministry embarks on the second phase to get rid of loiterers and unauthorized structures in the Government Business Area.

“We would therefore not allow any individual to be a hindrance to this process. We would not tolerate individuals taking the law into their own hands and if anyone has any problem with that, they should direct their concerns to the Ministry of Public Sector Reform or more especially the Conditions of Work Task Force that has been mandated to decongest and bring sanity into the Government Business Area” he said.