Former Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, has called on the government to utilize the CCTV cameras installed by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to help fight crime in the capital.
As part of the Accra Areawide Intelligent Traffic Management System, CCTV cameras were deployed at strategic locations. Mr. Vanderpuije, said some of the devices are presently inactive after their installation.
“As you drive around Accra, you will see these cameras that we began placing during my tenure and continued to do so even after I left office, all throughout the city on white poles. There are several in Mamprobi, Chorkor, Osu, and other locations, but they have not been activated,” he remarked in an interview on Citi FM monitored by mynewsafric.com.
“We installed these cameras throughout Accra, and I am sure that if you go to the scene of the incident [Jamestown Bullion van robbery], you will see cameras on the road because there are cameras all over Korle-Bu and Jamestown, and if activated, a camera would have definitely captured the bullion car and the motorbike riders following them somewhere in the city.”
The Accra Areawide Intelligent Traffic Management System was implemented to assist in the capital city’s traffic congestion reduction efforts.
The system is based on a coordinated traffic signal system with digitized traffic lights and a central control center that will monitor and operate all traffic signals in order to increase traffic flow, trip dependability, and road safety.
According to the lawmaker, the devices are unavailable due to a lawsuit filed against the government for canceling the contract with a Chinese corporation named Beijing Everyway.
The private construction business sued the Ghanaian government in the London Court of International Arbitration, seeking $55 million in damages for breach of contract.
Prior to the contract’s termination, Beijing Everyway said it had worked on the supply and installation of a traffic control system.
“[Beijing] Everyway has gone to court because the contract they were granted was cancelled and granted to Huawei under Nana Akufo-Addo. As a result, Ghana was sued, and the case is presently pending in court.”
Mr. Vanderpuije indicated that if Everyway was working on the project, all the cameras would have been active “to aid in solving some of these crimes” he explained.
