WE'VE TO HALT THIS CANKER

THE country has lost scarce resources as a result of indiscipline and our inability to enforce rules and regulations.
Squatters have stalled many projects in the country and when the authorities want to act, they are the first to seek redress under the law to protect their rights.
This group of people forget that every right that we want to exercise must go with a responsibility.
The Korle Lagoon Restoration Project, for which Ghana borrowed millions of dollars from the donor community, has been stalled because squatters at Sodom and Gomorrah have refused to vacate the area. Even when they are convinced to do so, they demand that they should be relocated.
Squatters have also taken over a parcel of land near the training grounds of Accra Hearts of Oak earmarked for a hotel project. They have threatened fire and brimstone against any authority that would dare evict them.
Hawkers are also another group of people who have taken the law into their own hands, and recognising the power of the ballot in a democracy, they are quick to invoke such powers against the ruling government by threatening to vote against it should it dare to drive them away from the streets.
As a result, Accra streets, particularly streets in the Central Business District which, some time in 2007, were decongested to allow free vehicular movement and pedestrian activity, have become choked in an election year.
The irony of all this is that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has spent huge sums of money to construct a Pedestrian Shopping Mall at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle but, again, the hawkers have simply refused to relocate there.
The latest of such acts of lawlessness is the encroachment on the Accra Race Course earmarked for a five-star hotel. The authorities had to seek help from the police to evict the squatters at great difficulty to pave the way for the project.
And, as is to be expected, the evictees are pouring scorn on the authorities for taking action to ensure that law and order prevail for the project to proceed.
Examples are inexhaustible but it is time we all joined forces to condemn such activities so that the country gets value for money to create more wealth and jobs.
In an election year, the DAILY GRAPHIC is not oblivious to the fact that the ruling government will hesitate to take harsh and necessary decisions to move the country forward.
However, it would be in the interest of all the political parties to lend a hand of support for decisions that will be taken by the ruling government, so that the ground rules will be laid on issues that everybody has to rally around.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that if this is done, any political party that assumes power after the December elections will not be held hostage by any group of people just on account that that action will have to be taken to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations of the land.
That is the only way our institutions and laws can be made to work for the betterment of the people.
The time has come for the country to design a broad framework to achieve the behavioural change necessary for attaining a vibrant society in which the citizens are disciplined and prepared to play by the rules, no matter their connections in the country.