THE Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) can score high marks for possessing one of the finest bye-laws that regulate the activities of residents to ensure that law and order reigns supreme for sanity to prevail in the metropolis.
Compiled in 1998 in its Local Government Bulletin, the bye-laws range from the regulation of truck pushers, control of the manufacture of charcoal, sale of intoxicating liquor, restaurants and chop bar operations, to the erection of billboards and signboards in the metropolis.
Others are the protection of roads, control of hawkers, mills, dogs, cattle and poultry, as well as bylaws on how to maintain effective sanitation to enhance healthy lifestyles among residents.
Also included in the bylaws of the KMA are the abatement of nuisance, litter and noise, as well as regulation of vehicle parking places, business transactions, trade, among others.
On paper, the KMA’s bylaws are among the finest documents ever produced, which would have made Kumasi a haven of peace and serenity, but years of failure to enforce the bylaws seems to have resulted in a state of lawlessness in certain parts of the metropolis.
Take Section 79 of the Local Government Act 1993 (Act 462) of the KMA truck pushers bylaws, for example. This section states emphatically that “all owners or persons in possession of any vehicle, having wheels not propelled by mechanical means in use for the carriage of goods in the metropolis, shall take out a licence for such a vehicle”.
It adds that “every vehicle for which a licence is issued shall have affixed therein the number plate assigned to it by the KMA”.
The bylaws on truck pushers also make it clear that “no person below the age of 18, shall push any vehicle which is subject to these bye-laws and no user of such a vehicle shall sit on them while it is in motion”.
It also states that “the user of any such vehicle which is subject to these bylaws shall observe the normal rules of road traffic movement and shall keep close to the right hand side of the road”, adding “no vehicle licensed under these bylaws shall operate between the hours of 5.30 p.m. and 5.30 a.m.”.
Of course, the bylaws mince no words about the consequences one could face if he/she flouts the by-laws. “Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of these bylaws shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding GH¢5 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.”
If this particular KMA bylaw had been strictly enforced, teenagers who have been pushing trucks in the Kumasi metropolis over the years would not have been encouraged to do so.
This is because the law would not have spared them. But who enforces such bylaws after they have been enacted?
Not until I looked through the KMA bylaws, I never knew that sitting on trucks was an offence liable to arrest, prosecution and conviction if found guilty, neither did I know that pushing trucks on the left side of the road also constituted an offence.
I was also enlightened that pushing a truck between 5.30 p.m. and 5.30 a.m., as well as failing to fix a number plate on it, constitutes an offence and all those who flout such regulations would be arrested and prosecuted.
The heavy human and vehicular traffic that occur in Adum, Kejetia and around the Central Market daily can partially be attributed to truck pushers who use the wrong lanes and block oncoming vehicles, especially during the morning and evening rush hours.
It is at that period that the traffic wardens of the KMA are found roaming about and creating the impression that they are monitoring the smooth flow of traffic.
How many of the trucks that ply the central business district (CBD), Kejetia, the Central Market, the Asafo Market, among other areas, have licensed number plates that will make for easy identification when their owners commit offences?
It is also on record that the activities of some truck pushers have resulted in fatal vehicular accidents leading to the loss of precious lives and property in Kumasi.
These and many regulations, when enforced to the letter, will result in sanity, thereby enhancing business transactions and peaceful co-existence.
As Kumasi eagerly awaits the appointment of a new Mayor, a section of its residents are praying that the he or she will initiate policies and programmes that will see to the strict enforcement of the KMA bylaws.
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