Mr Iddrisu Musah, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) has said his office and the security agencies will this week embark on another round of a decongestion exercise to clean the streets of the metropolis.
Mr Musah, who was speaking at forum in Tamale on Saturday, said "We shall be coming back again next week to sanitize and clear traders off the principal streets of Tamale.” He said this forms part of his vision to make the metropolis one of the cleanest and neatest places in the country.
Mr Musah made the announcement following concerns raised by stakeholders regarding the state of congestion on the streets of Tamale during the maiden edition of Back To Reality (B2R) presenting a Democracy, Dialogue and Development (3D) forum.
The 3D forum was organized with support from the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), a non-governmental organization, and other stakeholders. B2R is a social enterprise foundation with the goal to reconnect people back into the real world to engage each other constructively through dialogue and human interaction.
Its 3D forum seeks to connect political leaders with their constituents to dialogue and interact while holding them accountable through a non-partisan moderator. In May last year, the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly undertook a decongestion exercise within the central business district of the city to bring about discipline, sanity and orderliness on the roads, devoid of congestion and filth but the exercise was not sustained.
Mr Musah said he was pursuing a vision dubbed "Tamale Project", which did not focus on infrastructure but rather seeks to find a social revolution that would set a role for development in the metropolis.
He said the project intends to find a point of reformation for homeless and vulnerable young people to help them find a purpose for their own lives. He said his office has established the Behasun Task Force that has been going round to save young people dwelling in the forests, doing drugs and it is taking children loitering about at night within the streets to a convenient and safe place for the parents to come for them later.
Mr Musah said his office had also partnered with Not into Education, Apprenticeship or Training (NEAT) Ghana, which assisted in providing psychological, vocational and technical skills training for the young people rescued from the forests to help get engaged and support themselves financially.
He called on parents and guardians to have positive plans for their children and also imbibe discipline into them so that they could become responsible leaders. Mr MacMathew Chancellor, Tamale Metropolitan Director of the National Commission for Civic Education, commended the MCE for his good work and appeal to him to tackle issues such as disregard for traffic regulations by motorists.
Madam Abubakari Kawusada, Gender and Governance Manager of NORSAAC, an NGO, urged the MCE to strengthen the level of consultation and engagement with all stakeholders. Mr Mohammed Awal Abdullai, member of the Ghana Blind Association, appealed to the MCE to help set up a desk for persons with disabilities at the Assembly to champion the interest of persons with disabilities in the metropolis.