President Nana Akufo-Addo has bemoaned the poor maintenance culture in Ghana and among Ghanaians.
Speaking at a meeting with the Western Regional House of Chiefs, President Akufo Addo said government spends huge sums of money renovating and building new structures because the old structures have been left to rot.
“I think one of the things all of us make a decision is maintenance of our public institutions, we are not good at it, and we need to be good at it, because it will safe us a lot of money in the future, we build something and we don’t maintain it, it means that 5 years, 10 years’ time we have to have more money to build it again but if we are able to maintain them it will mean that these little little monies will be used to keep these institutions going. Politician, opinion leaders, ordinary citizen we need to imbibe the maintenance culture,” he said.
Last year, Ghanaians were advised to cultivate the habit of maintaining their building and facilities especially those provided by the government to reduce the financial burden that government incurs during renovations.
“This advise, when adhere to, would make sure the money government spend doing renovation for government bungalows will be channeled to other important avenues in the country,” she said.
The Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, Freda Prempeh who made the call was speaking at the launch of Kujo’s Home Maintenance at Dansoman in Accra.
She said facilities in the country must be properly maintained to guarantee their longevity and prevent unnecessary financial burden.
The Deputy Minister said the government is in the process of making laws that would become a policy of the government in making sure infrastructures that belong to the state are well maintained.
She said when completed, persons responsible for state facilities would be surcharged if they mismanage or fail to maintain the property.