Dear Quartey, Go-For-Gold

The Minister responsible for Greater Accra Region, Henry Quartey, is a tough character with a thick skin; he is the type who believes in achieving results despite the criticisms and attacks that may come his way.

Quartey hit the ground running right after his appointment to the office of Regional Minister and he has maintained an eagle eye on focus of making Accra work again.

Over the weekend, Henry Quartey was able to team up with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the Ga Traditional Council (GTC) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited on Saturday organized a major clean up exercise in Ga Mashie and its environs.

The exercise dubbed ‘Make Accra Clean’ was done with the support of  over 600 security officers was centered around  the Central Business District and saw the  demolition of illegal structures along the streets, walk ways, pavements  and supposed markets.

Impressively, it involved the participation of the Chiefs, elders and youth of Ga Mashie led by the Acting President of the Ga Traditional Council, Nii Adote Otintor III.

This is not the first time Quartey is taking up such a bold step to make Accra clean and make the city work again.

Each time he has done that, he gets insulted, verbally lambasted and discouraged by all manner of persons including persons from his own New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Quartey’s critics know very well he is doing the right thing. But they are unhappy that his actions affects where they butter their bread.

Some are also unhappy that in Quartey’s attempt to make Accra work again, he certainly would step on toes and the owners of these toes may decide to vote against his party come next elections.

But Quartey is a Minister every Ghanaian should be proud of. He is simply large and in charge. No pun intended.

Henry Quartey has proven he is not the usual  white long sleeves with flying tie wearing person who relaxes in an arm chair in a cozy office but rather a very practical hands-on leader who folds his sleeves up and above his elbows to get the work done in a leadership by example style.

We vividly remember when he  started to win the hearts of city dwellers when he announced, not long after he took office, that he was determined to enforce the laws on the use of sirens and horns as prescribed by regulation 74 of the Road Traffic Regulations of 2012 (L.I. 2180).

The Minister cautioned that offenders would be made to face the law without fear or favour. True to his words, Accra has witnessed a drastic reduction in the unauthorized use of sirens.

It is significant to note that this law has been in existence long before Henry Quartey’s appointment as Regional Minister but it had been poorly implemented or completely disregarded in many quarters.

The New Publisher is exceptionally proud of his style of leadership and perseverance. We encourage him to go for gold because posterity would be his best judge.