Local governance expert Dr. Eric Oduro Osae says political interference is a key reason major city streets remain congested with traders, despite repeated attempts to clear them.

According to him, efforts to decongest cities fail largely because of political calculations and undue influence from higher authorities.

“When you will get a chief executive who may want to keep the traders off the streets, but if it is an election year, you can be sure that this cannot happen,” he said on PM Express on Tuesday, May 20.

The Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) added that even in non-election years, local authorities trying to enforce the law are often frustrated.

“A chief executive starts, before you realise, order from above,” he said.

“An order from above means because the chief executive was appointed by the President, and also it is likely to cost the government in power, the chief executive will have to discontinue.”

Dr. Oduro Osae identified three main reasons cities across Ghana struggle to remove traders from unauthorised spaces: the failure of local governments to strictly enforce their bylaws, political interference, and the lack of a coherent strategic plan.

“The first reason is failure on the part of local government to be able to enforce their bylaws strictly,” he stated.

“The second one is on political interference and politicisation of the process. The third one is the unavailability of medium, short, medium and long-term strategies to ensure that we keep the traders off the city.”

He stressed that without a comprehensive strategy and political will, the problem will persist.

Dr Eric Oduro Osae lamented the cycle of half-hearted attempts, frustrated by politics and a lack of long-term planning.

“So these three factors affected the implementation of a strategy to make sure that the cities in Ghana…” he noted, trailing off as he highlighted the enduring nature of the challenge.