On June 24, 2024 we used this column to express serious concerns over the way domestic animals were being allowed to move freely on the streets of Accra. We specifically mentioned Adenta – around the SSNIT flats and Municipal assembly and the Tetteh Quashie Circle – a major landmark in Accra.
A few weeks after our editorial, the then Greater Accra Regional Minister, Titus Glover, issued a stern warning to owners of these animals to keep them in their kraals or risk losing them. He also chastised Metropolitan and Municipal Chief Executives in Accra for failing to control the movement of these animals.
Speaking to journalists after paying a working visit to ECOMOC, a slum near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, as well as cattle market on the Kanda Highway, the then Minister said he was compelled by the circumstance to perform certain tasks that were preserved for the MMDCEs, just to ensure that things are done as expected.
Mr Titus-Glover referred particularly to how stray animals – cattle, dogs and sheep among others – had taken over the streets of Accra, yet the MMDCEs are not working to address the problem.
“It is not the duty of the regional minister to be coming round and talking about these things. It is the work of the MMCEs, and from here, I’m going to summon them to my office and give them my final warning,” he said at the time.
Titus Glover had contended that cows being left to move freely around was not good for the image of the city of Accra and that “it does not speak well of the people”. He recounted calling the MCE for Ayawaso West Assembly to act on cattle grazing on the lawns at the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange.
“When you sit in your office, you will be in your comfort zone. The president did not give you the office to sit in. Even the President himself, once in a while, travels round the regions to see things for himself. So when he is reading the reports, he will say I have been here. I was in Saboba. I was in Tatale. I was in Zabzugu. He knows what he is talking about”, he said.
Almost a year down the line, the MMDCEs, including the very one Titus Glover mentioned – Ayawaso West – have not done anything concrete to stop animals from roaming the streets of Accra, our national capital. Just this week, The Chronicle reporters saw some cattle grazing openly at America House, one of the prime residential areas in Accra.
As for Adenta, the situation has moved from bad to worse as the cattle are seen almost on daily basis grazing in the SNNIT flats, where the Adenta Municipal assembly is located, and other parts of the municipality. Interestingly, we have MMDCEs who are supervising the jurisdiction of these areas, but nobody seems to care about the ugly development.
Can animals like cows be seen roaming the streets of London, Berlin, New York or Toronto? The answer is certainly no, but people who have been appointed to leadership positions and claim to be learning from these advanced countries do not see anything wrong with cows mingling with human beings on our streets.
The other day, there were media reports that the newly appointed MCE for Kumasi had threatened to kill cattle roaming the streets of the Garden City and give the meat to the Kumasi Central Prisons. This tells the story that the problem is not limited to Accra, but other parts of the country as well.
Whilst the Kumasi MCE is taking proactive steps to address the issue, his counterparts in Accra are just sleeping on the job. In our previous editorial, we had earlier referenced in this write up, we called on the then President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to sack MMCEs who fail to deal with the stray animal menace.
The Chronicle is repeating this call on President John Mahama to also sack MMDCEs, especially those in Accra, should they fail to control the movement of cattle on the streets of Accra. As Titus Glover stated, which had already been referenced, MCEs are not supposed to sit in their cosy offices only, but must also move around to observe things.
Obviously, if these MMDCEs in Accra, especially those in Adentan and Ayawaso West Wuogon, had been going round, they would have seen this negative development. Cattle moving freely in Accra is a disgrace to the nation and that is why decisive action must be taken to deal with the problem.
