Former Kumasi Mayor Sam Pyne is speaking out against corruption within the city’s guard ranks, claiming that some city guards deployed to regulate congestion exercises are corrupt and fuel traders’ disregard for regulations.
This accusation comes after current Mayor Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi’s, also known as Zuba, controversial comments about using corporal punishment to tackle congestion in the city.
Mr. Boadi’s comments, which sparked widespread criticism, suggested that traders and street hawkers who defy orders to vacate unauthorized spaces risk being beaten by his team during a planned decongestion exercise.
Pyne described these comments as “unfair” and “undemocratic militarism,” emphasizing that the Assembly has existing regulations and bylaws to handle such situations.
In an interview on Morning Starr with Naa Dedei Tettey, former Mayor Sam Pyne highlighted another challenge of corrupt city guards.
According to him, some take bribes from traders, allowing them to trade in unauthorized areas.
He shared his experience of conducting surprise visits to monitor city guards, revealing that some would look the other way while traders climbed onto footbridges or arrange with traders to allow them to misbehave in exchange for money.
Mr. Pyne added that this issue is not unique to Kumasi but requires a massive nationwide approach. He noted that cities like Takoradi and Cape Coast used to be better managed but recent visits have shown that they too are struggling with similar issues.
“And also, there’s a big challenge that we lose sight of. Those that we deploy to enforce the regulations, the city guards, some of them are so corrupt that all the bad things, the stubbornness of the people is from them. I have several reports. They go to take money from them and allow them to trade there. I was doing some surprise visits. I went to one portion of the city where there’s a footbridge there and because of safety and the rest, we didn’t want people to trade on. So we positioned two city guards at the frontage and two at the exit. And when you go, they will not look on the footbridge to see if people are climbing. They look the opposite direction.”
“So on occasions, I have to go there and all those people, some of them are suspended. Some of them will go and arrange with the women, take money from them as a group, and they allow them to misbehave. So this is also something that should come to the attention of the new mayor, my friend, Zuba. Because yes, you may use the tax force, but if you use the tax force, I was talking about sustainability. There should be somebody there to make sure they don’t come back. And the people that we put there, some of these people, aid the traders in the indiscipline on our streets. And it looks like it’s something that is across, but especially in our major cities. I know Takoradi is a little okay. Cape Coast used to be okay. But the last time I went there, what I saw within Kotokraba, and I was shocked at the conduct of the people there. And I believe it should be a massive nationwide approach to some of these things.”
Mr. Pyne urged Mayor Boadi to address the corruption within the city guards and work towards a more sustainable solution to manage congestion in the city.
Source: Ghana/StarrFM103.5FM/Hamdia Mohammed
