It
was about 22:45 GMT on the eve of Christmas. I was tired with a lot of sleep
arears hanging on my eyes. And with the aid of dim light, I thought I saw a
vision of beautiful paintings, water-colours, canvases and posters on the walls
of the house I resided some time ago.
Momentarily,
my thoughts admired the sea of colours playing on my blurred sleepy vision as I
lazily struggled to yank the main gate and locate my room to catch a good
sleep.
Ooo!
It was rather a simulated beauty of what I thought I saw the night before, when
the sun aided my eyes to see loads of the posters on the walls of the Akrante Villa.
It
was a messy dirty look of a dense covering of posters posted on debris of a
wailing white wall, Mr. Akoto (not his real name), the landlord, had planned
painting.
He
got furious and mad at whoever might have posted them, as he gave a thundering
command for his son to immediately clear the mess on the wall.
Then
the question hit me, where is our sense of beauty? Must we in the name
promoting our conventions, all nights, music launch, movies, political candidates
or other programmes bombard people’s walls with these posting and pasting of
posters?
It
is true the Akrante Villa was by all
standards strategically located at a vantage intersections in one of the
suburbs in Accra that might have made the walls an attractive destination for
such free adverts.
Although
he threatened reporting the unnecessary nuisance to the authorities, I guess
Mr. Akoto could not pursue it. But I realised he might not be the only one
suffering this abuse on his property.
Posters everywhere
It
is far-fetched to say almost all public facilities like roads, overpasses and
even street lights as well as bus stop stands are not spared this mess. It is
not only limited to Accra but replete in all the regional capitals and some
towns and cities in the country.
The
perpetrators have succeeded in converting walls (with or without post-no-bill
inscription) of houses adjacent major roads, overpasses and street light polls as
well as avenue trees into cheap public notice boards or spaces to advertise
their programmes and other announcers. These posters which were perhaps done
hurriedly in the night do not only deface our edifices but an eyesore and an ugly
indication we have thrown our sense of beauty and cleanliness to the dogs.
A
cursory look at the Mallam Junction section of the N1 High reveals faded debris
of posters of politicians used in the 2012 general elections. The bleached and
distressed posters still seen on the walls of the road gives them a horrible
look.
The
posters and flyers that come in various shades, sizes and colours no doubt attract
road users’ attention, which somehow achieve their aim. But is that the right thing
to do? If yes is it sustainable? Who pays for the cost of cleaning up the mess?
The
indiscriminate posting of posters has also marred and tainted the beauty of our
edifices and some monuments dotted round the country and also contributed to
polluting our environment.
Culprits
It
is not difficult to spot the offenders who awash our streets and other
buildings with a sea of filthy assortment of belated and post-dated posters. A
closer look at the posters exposes their owners and their designers. Some are
so-called men of God, politicians, musicians, movie producers, while others are
obituaries announcing the death of a member of that area.
Similarly,
other posters and flyers promoting vacation classes or announcing employment
avenues, loans for salaried government workers, as well as publicising auditioning
dates for actors and actresses or new talent hunts; and others also posted by
organisers of vacation classes or remedial courses, while others also announces
availability of new programmes in tertiary education. The list is endless.
In
recent time, movie producers in their bid to outdoor their new movies and
improve sales have also resorted to posting and pasting their movie posters
everywhere to promote their movies.
With
a desperate show to breathe the free air of advertisement space, it is often
said these posters get torn or removed if one fails to apply appropriate glue
or starch to their posters or do the necessary monitoring. Some even keep
monitoring those spaces they posted their posters even late at night or from
time to time to ensure their presence were intact.
The
jostling for the limited spaces becomes even intense and heightened during
election year as well as during the major festive occasions such as Christmas
or Easter when churches or event organisers post their package loads of
activities for their members and to possibly entice the floating believers or revellers.
Essentially,
the inadequate notice boards in Accra, has in a way become a license or a
certification for culprit to post posters everywhere. Somehow, this phenomenon has
boisterously empowered politicians and their teeming supporters to post and
glue their candidates’ faces everywhere during electioneering campaigns, which
could still be cited in several areas just like their billboards two years
after the elections. This has no doubt contributed to this large scale self-defacing
practice of our edifices, described by many as a helpless situation. It is as if
we are still fumbling in the woods of lawlessness to notice the
self-destructive things we are perpetuating against ourselves.
The ‘I don’t care attitude’
I
do not believe these huge edifices were established for us to abuse and deface.
I do not believe we have subtly sanctioned the practice as the right thing to
do. Neither do I share the belief that littering our streets with posters and
flyers is an effective means of campaigning or advertising. It is not only an
eye-sore but a disturbing trend we must curb or live to suffer the pollution
and nuisance these posters cause.
Certainly,
our street lights, road sign posts, footbridges and avenue trees must be spared
this ordeal because they were not built or planted to hang these posters.
The
‘I don’t care attitude’ or the benign negligence of the Metropolitan, Municipal,
District Assemblies (MMDAs), who look on and some men of God and musicians,
movie producers and promoters, politicians or business owners who encourage
their congregation, fans and employees to litter these posters on the streets
is not just worrying but a lame posture of inaction to rid our cities of filth
and keep a clean environment.
Conclusion
That
these edifices cost us so much to construct, means we ought to do our best to keep
them in good shape or maintain them. And the least we can do is to desist from defacing
and destroying them.
The
MMDAs must erect more notice boards at strategic points in the cities and towns
to promote their use and generate some funds for their Assemblies.
Furthermore,
the MMDAs in collaboration with area or town councils and communities must clean
these messy post-dated oodles of posters on our walls and on our streets. The
assemblies could slap fines on culprits and ask them to remove the debris of
posters at unauthorized place or even prosecute them.
It
is incumbent on the Assemblies and the political parties or candidates who contested
in the 2012 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections to remove the huge and
mini bill-boards which are still on display, to make space for other adverts.
This is because they are not just a nuisance to residents and the travelling
public but obsolete obstruction to vision that block and dwarf vital road sign
posts and other directional sign posts. Those vying for positions in the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) should
also be asked to remove their posters after the elections.
The
MMDAs must in collaboration with the Information Services Department intensify
public education on the need to keep towns and cities clean especially at a
time we are battling with the outbreak of Cholera.
Of
what use is it to build monuments or infrastructure with massive financial
investment and just deface them? We cannot continue behaving as if we were a
lawless people without a sense of beauty or discipline.
We
are better off in our progress match, if we all acted with a high sense of
cleanliness and discipline, because we all have a collective responsibilities
to ensure the cleanliness of our country.
May
God help us all.
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