Political maverick Charles Kofi Wayo has commended President J.E.A. Mills for directing the suspension of the decongestion exercise currently being undertaken by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. He claimed the president, along with other members of the government such as National Security Co-ordinator and Adviser, Larry Gbevlo Lartey and Nunoo Mensah, were the first ‘humane Africans’ he had seen. Mr Wayo was speaking on Radio Gold in respect of a directive by the president to the AMA boss, Alfred Vanderpuije to suspend the decongestion of the capital. “When we are working to improve the economy, it will not be proper for us to treat our people in this manner,” the president is quoted as saying. According to a Daily Graphic story, the president said “although the government was not for the indiscriminate siting of unauthorized structures, it believed that the exercise had to be carried out in line with the total urban renewal project promised in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto.” Agreeing with the president, Mr Kofi Wayo said he had seen AMA security guards “just snatching young peoples’ wares, their phones, and just bunch them together and throw into their vehicle. That is thuggery.” He said while he was for the decongestion of the city, he thought the exercise ought to be carried out in a more humane and methodical manner. He said Mr Vanderpuije who claims to have lived in the United States ought to know that treating people in such brutish manner was unacceptable. The founder of the docile United Renaissance Party said the street hawkers were not selling on the streets because they enjoy it but because the city planners had failed to make adequate and decent provision for them to conduct their business in a congenial environment. “The structure you are putting up even pigs will not go there so why should Ghanaians go there? There is no toilet, no water, there is nothing so why should they go there,” he asked, in reference to markets and stalls the assembly has been suggesting are available to accommodate the traders in other localities. He said his Christmas was now complete with the directive. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana