Stay away from rickety bill boards -AAG

The onset of heavy rains has sparked conversations about the safety and structural integrity of advertising panels and billboards scattered around major capital cities across the country.

This follows the annual ritual of damages often caused to vehicles and properties during rainfalls accompanied by strong winds.

With heavy rains predicted for 2026, starting with the February mix of normal and above-normal rainfall, residents are growing concerned about the stability and placement of such billboards.

A visit to some areas by The Spectator after the last rainfall revealed a few destructions to properties.

For instance, The Spectator team spotted a medium-sized billboard on Oxford Street in Osu that had fallen onto a closely parked car.

Despite the low number of incidents, the Executive Director of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG), Mr Isaac Cudjoe, has warned owners of vehicles to be mindful of where they park them.

That, he said, would go a long way to avert some of these unfortunate situations.

“This is an annual occurrence so I wish to advise owners of vehicles to stay away from rickety billboards. They become dangerous in such bad weather situations,” he indicated.

The danger, however, according to The Spectator enquiries is that there are quite a huge number of advertising agencies that operates without licenses from the AAG, making it difficult to regulate their activities.

Speaking in an interview, Mr Cudjoe stated that the AAG cannot be held responsible for the state of every billboard sited in the community because some the owners are not members of the Association.

As a result, activities of these advertising agencies were expected to be monitored and regulated by the local assemblies.

“Since these agencies are not our members, their activities are supposed to be monitored by the local assemblies. In fact, they have to inspect the location of these boards, check the soil texture, base and concrete works but the persistence of these problems suggests that some of these things are not done well,” he said.

Mr Cudjoe disclosed that AAG ensures that every member adhere strictly to standards set out by the Ghana Standards Authority; all in a bid to ensure quality of work and safety in times like the rainy season.

The AAG Executive Director disclosed that the Association was pushing for a bill through the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry to make it mandatory for all advertising agencies to be licensed by the AAG as was the case in other countries.

“This is the case in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. It will go a long way to ensure that all agencies would operate under the same regulations. It will also empower the AAG to stretch its supervisory role in all advertising operations,” he stated.

This will also empower the AAG to control and regulate the rise of advertisement on social media and published by content creators, adding that, “This would ensure that the advertisement seen on the social media space meets the required standards.”

By Andrew Nortey

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