THE Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Albert Abongo, has disclosed that GH¢2.7 million is to be spent on renovating government bungalows to accommodate Ministers of State.
The minister, who explained that it would take at least one month to execute the job, decried the level of neglect of the bungalows, most of which are reported to be in a dilapidated state (see front page).
The lamentations of the minister, as well as those of many others before him, paint an unmistakable picture of the reckless and lackadaisical attitude people have adopted towards state property.
For a good number of people, including very well-educated and highly placed officials, state or government property belongs to no one in particular and, therefore, its mishandling must not evoke the undue concern of anyone.
In other words, to such people government property is everyone’s property to which no one person or group is entitled to be so unduly concerned about as to demand answers from those occupying them about their usage.
So it is not uncommon to see people misusing state properties, be they bungalows, vehicles or others, with many people looking on helplessly as if they have no stake in such properties or have no duty towards their safety.
Indeed, there have been instances when a few conscious and patriotic citizens have raised questions on such misuse of state property and have virtually been abused, harangued, taunted and called names. These actions have often petrified them into submission.
It is difficult to fathom how the state, especially in difficult economic times such as we find ourselves, has to devote a whopping GH¢50,000 to renovate just one bungalow which only a month or two ago was occupied by a minister or another government official.
Were those bungalows in such a horrible shape when the said officials occupied them? If not, what happened to such property within this short period of time to warrant the state expending this huge amount to renovate them?
It is an open secret that not only do many people occupying such state bungalows fail to take good care of them while they occupy them but they also at times pillage as many of the furnishings in the bungalows as they can on their exit, leaving them bare.
Recent examples of this behaviour by all manner of public officers have not painted a good image of us as a people.
We call on the Water Resources, Works and Housing Ministry to endeavour to get to the bottom of these matters by, among other things, fishing out those who looted the items from the bungalows, retrieving them and bringing such officials or officers to book.
We should also be interested in determining whether the rapid deterioration of such state bungalows has anything to do with the conduct of those who occupy them and to let the law take its course where necessary.
It is no longer acceptable to continue devoting such huge sums of money to renovate state bungalows every eight years when a new batch of government appointees are to take up residence when, with the proper orientation and enforcement of laws and accountability, we can save money and divert it to other productive areas of the economy.
We need to take steps to avoid such situations of allowing state bungalows to fall into ruins as we see now. The time to act and act boldly is now.
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