Mr. President, Please call “Almighty” Alfred Vanderpuye to order.

Order, we learn is the First Law in Heaven. Without Laws, mankind would recede to the State of Nature, where might becomes the order of the day. The basic principle then becomes the survival of the fittest. In such a state, planning is relegated to the background and life becomes short, nasty and brutish.

It is therefore of utmost importance that those who are “elected” to spearhead our institutions use their experience to help enact and implement laws that are enforceable and peoples’ friendly. Thus, a Chief who, because of self will and intransigence, refuses to listen to the concerns of his subjects becomes the most hated person in the community. Nobody speaks well of him and when he is removed or something nasty happens to him, the common verdict is “good riddance”.

It is on such premise that I urge the Mayor of Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Honourable Alfred Vanderpuye not to look at other less privileged people within his “empire” with disdain. He might be the Accra Mayor, but other lesser important personalities in the nation’s capital equally have a stake in how Accra is governed.

I refer to the seemingly “harmless” but volatile face off between the Mayor and the GPRTU Executives at Tudu Lorry Station. By an executive fiat, the Almighty Mayor rose from his Mount Olympus Office to order the GPRTU at Tudu to join their colleagues at the New Tema Lorry Station. Haba, Almighty Mayor! Why this draconian decree?

Though the Tema Lorry Station has been renovated to take in more vehicles the additional vehicular inflow will be more that what it can cope with if those from Tudu were made to join them. The Tudu Lorry Station has been in operation for a very long time. The GPRTU Officials at the station have “managed” it ever since. Now, if for any reason, our powerful and untouchable mayor is asking them to move to Tema Station, in what capacity are the officials going to operate there? Are they going to be subservient to the officials at the Tema Lorry Park? Is his action not going to cause a rift between officials of both lorry parks? Or is it a clandestine way of breaking the unity of the GPRTU so as to make it a toothless bull dog?

If for any reason, the AMA super man wants them to move from their old station, he has to provide them an alternate accommodation. Asking them to join their colleagues at Tema Lorry Station will not solve the problem. The facilities there are already overstretched. When Government asked the GPRTU Officials to move from the Old Achimota Station, it provided an alternate place for them. We now have the New Achimota Lorry Station with modern facilities. Yes, this is what we call pragmatic approach to issues, and we expect the super man to follow suit.

We should not overlook the fact that the Laws of this country have virtually made the GPRTU at Tudu Lorry Station the de facto owners of the land on which it operates. The GPRTU at Tudu Lorry Park have put up structures and operated the station for a donkey number of years (even before Alfred Vanderpuye was born) without let or hindrance from the State. Wherein lies the justification for the Accra Mayor to order the GPRTU to move from its legitimately acquired premises?

If the action of the “Almighty” Alfred Vanderpuye is allowed to stand, it will be an indication of complete mayhem and abdication of one’s right to own property. It will mean, any powerful Government Official can wake up one day to ask any person whose face the official dislikes to vacate his/her premises and there is nothing anybody could do about it.

By the way, was this edict passed by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, or the Mayor has some personal scores to settle with some officials of the GPRTU at Tema Tudu Lorry Station and so decided to issue this “fatwa” to show the infidels at the Station where power lies?

In arriving at a fair conclusion one should not overlook the fact that the Tudu Lorry Station serves as the International gateway to the Eastern Corridor. Most of the passengers traveling to towns and cities in the Volta Region and countries like Togo, Benin, and Nigeria have their journeys originating and terminating at the Tudu Lorry Park. Where does our “Almighty” Mayor want all these passengers to go if his edict were to be carried out?

If the “Almighty” Alfred Vanderpuye, (who once said on air that the President apologized to him for taking a condemnable action) has the interest of Ghanaians at heart what prevents him from calling a stake-holders meeting with officials of the GPRTU to deliberate on the best way out of the seemingly intractable situation?

I am therefore, by this medium, calling on the Presidency, the Transport Ministry, the Regional Administration, the Police High Command and concerned Ghanaians to call the AMA Boss to order before his action plunges the country into the precipice of violence. The GPRTU Officials at the station have vowed not to move out. And knowing the AMA operatives for their “akakabinsem” and “patapaasem” the operatives will attempt to force Vanderpuye’s bitter pills on to the throats of the GPRTU officials. The latter will resist with all the legitimate means at their disposal.

The “All powerful” Accra Mayor must be told to the face that he should not act God and claim to be the master of all he surveys. We live in al wonderful world where wonderful things occur

The action and directive of the AMA Boss is capable of causing fear and panic at the Tudu Lorry Station and the earlier Rose Atinga Bio gets into action, the better it will be for all of us. Honourable Alfred Vanderpuye must be “arrested” or stopped in his tracks. Do not say, I did not warn you. To be fore warned is to be fore-armed. I have spoken.

Daniel Danquah Damptey ([email protected]) ([email protected]) 0243715297