I had to pinch myself that I was in the heart of Ghana’s capital, in the area called Circle-Dubai, located at the ever-busy Kwame Nkrumah Circle.
It was 5.30am and darkness had covered the skies so much so that one had to drive with bright lights on.
I was shocked to the bone to see scores of people, possibly squatters, occupying the underpass and sleeping on mats and mattresses.
So comfortable it seemed, with some even sleeping under mosquito nets. It was like any dormitory in a boarding school.
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It may not be a jungle of trees and wild animals. Neither was it an extension of a boarding school dormitory.
What I witnessed the other week while in an Uber car, on my way to the airport to catch a flight to Kumasi, may have been a chance encounter, but it did give me thoughts to reflect on ‒ our nation Ghana and its social contract with the citizens.
My Uber driver made a wrong turn which meant that we had to go through the Circle underpass to join the Ring Road.
It was a shock, but also an eye-opener to some of the social crises staring in our faces as a nation.
It obviously looked to me that this was an everyday occurrence and I was not wrong in my thinking as my Uber driver later confirmed.
The practice started soon after the interchange was commissioned in 2016.
Those sleepers seemed contented and unperturbed with all the noise that was coming from passing vehicles and the early morning traders and hawkers who were busy setting up for their businesses.
I hardly have conversations with commercial drivers, but with what I was witnessing, I could not keep things to myself.
I openly expressed my shock and disgust at the practice and the usual look-on attitude of some of us, especially the political classes, who have the power to make and unmake social ills.
They are an indictment on us as a people.
The mess that has festered at the underpass must have started with one or two squatters.
Eight years on, the place has become a permanent bedroom for those persons.
Where do they pack their bedding and other stuff when day breaks? I wondered.
Many questions quickly filled my mind.
I wondered if there were any places of convenience should they want to attend to nature’s call in the middle of the night.
Where do they brush their teeth, have their baths and dress up to face the day?
Perhaps, the more serious thought was about the rubbish they generate each night.
Any wonder the drains around the place are so choked with waste materials and the attendant floods in the Circle Odawna area each rainy season?
The sprawling makeshift open sleeping platform at the Circle underpass needs a good video capture on television or social media for Ghanaians to appreciate the mess we are being confronted with in that area.
Epidemic
As has been the case in other socially disturbing situations, we may be watching on unconcerned until an epidemic breaks out or a disaster occurs, then one gets concerned ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs), local government and other officials parading in their four-wheel vehicles and coming around with long speeches which do not translate into actions.
Thankfully, there is goodwill in the air and a lot of Ghanaians are looking forward to how lives will be transformed, how communities will be touched and how, overall, we will see the Ghana that we all crave for.
May our MPs who have had the greater benefit of the goodwill of their constituents move down to the people and help with some of the nuisances they are confronted with on daily basis.
Was it not impressive and encouraging to hear some of the stranded Ghanaian government scholarship holders in the UK speaking about their plight on television with one of them saying that at some point they had to speak to their local UK MP about their difficulties, who promised to liaise with their Ghanaian counterparts about their issues.
The President’s request for his appointees to complete their assets declaration within a stipulated time is great news and one can only thank him for the bold statement to curb the nagging corruption opulence.
But greater news it would be if they were also pressurised to submit their smart measurable and time-bound strategic actions feeding into the reset agenda.
Such actions should be highlighting in particular, their plan of action towards achieving the social contracts for citizens in their communities.
The last one checked the social contract our leaders have with citizens has not been altered. Circle-Dubai underpass is festering into a disaster, if care is not taken.
It happened with Agbobloshie. Someone needs to focus on the sleeping platform before it gradually turns into a habitable permanent abode in the heart of the city.
Writer’s E-mail: vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com
