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The good intentions of officials of the Town and Country Planning and the Department of Parks and Gardens to plant trees to beautify streets in the Sekondi /Takoradi Metropolis is turning out to be a huge threat to motorists. The trees beautify the metropolis with their greenery and provide commuters shade from the scorching sun, now the unpruned trees planted decades ago have their dried branches falling off from time to time posing danger to motorists. According to Action Bio Diversity, a US based research institute, trees play a very important role in all surroundings and provide humans with fresh air, shade, and other benefits without which life will be unbearable. It said that trees fulfil other important functions such as providing oxygen to every living creature, preventing soil erosion, producing vegetables, medicines and fruits. They also help in maintaining fertility of soils. However, after these trees are planted, it is the job of someone to ensure that they do not become a nuisance to society to warrant them being cut. The story in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis has become so bad that people no longer talk of the benefits the trees provide but the constant threat they pose to vehicles and passers-by. A check by the Daily Graphic from the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly�s Department of Parks and Gardens, Town and Country Planning and the Forestry Commission indicates that the three bodies are not sure who should be in charge of the maintenance of the trees. Falling dried branches Frequently, these dried branches drop on the streets or on moving vehicles at the least airstream, a situation motorists claim have resulted in the smashing of a number of windscreens and the denting of vehicles. Where the dry branches fall without much incident, they halt the movement of traffic until they are moved to the shoulder of the road. The situation is worse during heavy storms, which leave broken branches hanging loosely and dangerously overhead. Roads in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis such as from the Krue-Quarters toward Sekondi/Takoradi highway, New Site, Anaji, Effia, Jubilee Park through Fijai to Kojokrom all have these trees. A victim who spoke to this reporter said one of the dried branches dropped on the roof of his taxi cab, destroyed the pole on the trunk and smashed the windscreen of the cross-country vehicle behind his cab. According to the victim, Papa Stone, who plies the Adiembra, Sekondi and Takoradi township in some cases, it caused needless accidents and that it was about time the city authorities saved the situation. Other motorists said driving through the metropolis under those trees required alertness, especially when it was windy. Police MTTD pro-activeness When the Daily Graphic contacted the police, the Regional head of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), ASP Michael Dandy Zah, said they had heard about the situation but no victim had reported to the police. According to ASP Zah, during their rounds, they observed that some of the trees had dried branches which was a threat to road safety. �We experienced a similar situation that caused an accident when I were in Akosombo in the Eastern Region and through our recommendation it was contained, and I can tell you that, we have gone through the metropolis and we are preparing to engage the metropolitan assembly to act to avert disaster,� he said. The MTTD commander reminded motorist an accident, no matter how it happened, should be reported to the police. Who is in charge? Various departments expected to be in charge of the administration of the metropolis continue to shift responsibility and play blame games. The metropolitan assembly for instance, pointed accusing fingers at the Forestry Commission, claiming it was the unit in charge of the maintenance of the trees. That aside, monkeys which use the Monkey Hill in Takoradi as their habitat crisscross the roads every morning and evening searching for food, thereby causing the dried branches to fall on the streets or on moving vehicles. At STMA According to the Public Relations Officer of the STMA, Mr John Laste, it was the duty of a department under the Forestry Commission to maintain the trees. At the district office, the district officers of the Forestry Commission said their job was to give permit for people to prune or cut trees that posed a threat to lives and property and that it was not their business to prune the dried branches. Forestry Commission Some of the officials at the commission explained that even though the trees were planted by the Department of Parks and Gardens, and beyond that, the farthest the commission could go was to provide them with nursed trees for transplanting. They were emphatic that the maintenance of the trees was the duty of city authorities. The Forestry Commission maintained that it only gave permit to people who in one way or the other wished to cut a tree for development, or if the tree was wrongly sited or posed a threat to life and property, for which they would carry out an assessment and approve the permit or refused the request.