Former Accra mayor Mohammed Adjei Sowah accused the city’s transport woes of stemming from fragmented planning and management by the various local assemblies.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue on Saturday, September 12, Mr Sowah warned that when adjoining assemblies develop separate transport plans, commuters who routinely cross multiple jurisdictions face disjointed services and delays.
He illustrated the problem with a commuter traveling from Lapaz to Accra Central, who would pass through several assemblies, each with its own medium‑term development plan and independent transport agenda.
“Transportation gives life to a city. If you don’t have efficient and effective transportation, then the cost to the economy, the cost to the lives of people, the cost to the GDP is enormous,” he said.
Mr Sowah argued that such an approach fails to reflect Accra as a single interconnected urban area where traffic flows and commuting patterns do not respect administrative boundaries.
He called for coordinated transportation planning across the various jurisdictions and stronger central coordination involving the police, the Roads Ministry and the Local Government Ministry, rather than leaving the responsibility to individual metropolitan chief executives.
“The weight of the president and political decision matters a lot,” he said, urging the government to step in to address the city’s transportation challenges.
In a closing note, Mr Sowah highlighted the need for a unified strategy to keep Accra’s transport system efficient and to prevent further economic losses.
