Can The Department Of Parks And Gardens Be Transformed Through PPPs?

Can the Department of Parks and Gardens be transformed, into a valuable and profitable state asset, through private public partnerships  (PPPs), with reputable Ghanaian green entrepreneurs, with solid track-records, of creating wealth and fulfilling green jobs galore, in Ghana's nascent green economy?

 At a recent tree-planting event, Ghana's former First Lady,  Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, bless her, asked that the Department of Parks and Gardens, be made independent of Zoomlion. That was rather odd, for an ignoramus like moi. The question is: Is the Department of Parks and Gardens now controlled by Zoomlion?

Whatever be the case, under no circumstances, should the Department of Parks and Gardens, be made subservient  to Zoomlion, in any shape or form. Full stop. Case closed.

On the surface, on paper, Zoomlion is a great Ghanaian  company. But to its discerning-critics, it is a classic example, of a teflon-type Ghanaian private sector entity, which is scandal-proof, mainly because its tentacles  touch many sectors of our national economy, and has thus become too-big-to-fall, so to speak, regardless of the number of scandals alleged against it. 

 

Ideally, what ought to be done, is to transform the Department of Parks and Gardens,  through public private partnerships (PPPs), with other Ghanaian private sector entities, which have a solid track-record of delivering profitable adventure  parks, which generate fresh oxygen-laden air - vital at a time when air-quality in urban Ghana is deteriorating at an alarming rate (leading to a nationwide spike in respiratory diseases). Above all, let us never forget that public parks help preserve priceless green capital, for Mother Ghana, and for future generations  of our people.

 

A shinning example, is the Legon Botanical Gardens, transformed by Ghana foremost green entrepreneur, Mr. Eugene Kofi Boakye-Yiadom, through a PPP agreement, into a veritable haven-of-nature, in a rapidly expanding capital city, which is now a concrete-jungle, more or less, sadly.  

Committed and successful green entrepreneurs, like that, will never secretly dispose of publicly-owned lands, which are designated as green spaces, to property developers, ever. In light of all the above, should the Departmentof Parks and Gardens, not be transformed into a profitable state entity, benefitting the finances of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies  (MMDAs), nationwide.  Ditto producing private-sector wealth that remains locally, and, generating fulfilling-green-jobs galore,  across Ghana, through PPPs?

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