Vandalism of public assets and sense of ownership

When the news of vandalism and theft of public infrastructure first came to light, some questions came to mind. The government installs these facilities for the betterment of communities. So, one, why would this happen? 

To this, one might have a rough guess that, probably, some people are trying to use these facilities as material in their local workshops. Secondly, if the cameras available captured some of these activities. 

Thirdly, if the people doing this know the consequences of stealing public assets. 
To these questions, I say that the cameras are there but that there might be laxity in the surveillance of the things that go on, especially in areas covered by “Big Brother’s” eyes. The vandals know the consequences, and that is why they do things stealthily. 

Apart from being arrested for vandalism, these facilities cost a lot of money that government always borrows. It means we taxpayers will always pay twice for the same thing. We will still have to pay the loan and repair the vandalised facilities. You see! 
If we continue to destroy government assets, it will come back to pinch us, the taxpayer. For a long time, we have suffered inconveniences when such installations get stolen. Think about road signage getting uprooted. Street lighting goes missing. 

Lately, these guys have taken their game to high-voltage power pylons. On this one, I dare you who does not have the know-how to disassemble and run away with parts of a 33kV power transmission line. 
And when such incidents happen, we expect that the results of investigations are accessible to the public to know what happened and what steps are in place to ensure that these incidents do not repeat. Get to the bottom of these incidents to reduce the number of times we get inconveniences – power outages, getting hit by gangsters while walking along the dark sections of the street, and denying users the use of these facilities. 

There is a need to ensure that facilities that benefit the communities should be allowed to serve the intended purpose. We should not allow people to destroy these infrastructures because they cost taxpayers dearly. If you know how painful it is to pay twice for the same thing, you can even volunteer to guard these facilities jealously. 

We can use it as motivation to be vigilant and protect these installations. Otherwise, by vandalising these facilities, we go into unnecessary costs. It leaves us with some more questions about the sense ownership. 

By paying taxes that help these installations, we as stakeholders, therefore, must own these facilities. Unfortunately, we do not seem to care, even when we need these amenities. Is it that communities are many times left out during the implementation processes of these projects? 
Let us delegate the responsibility of surveillance and monitoring such facilities during operation to the contractor who builds these projects. It is the contractor that knows the procedure for the installation of the facilities – not any other person, and therefore maintenance and repair. So that if the facilities are stolen or destroyed, we hold the contractor accountable. As users, we cannot withdraw and look on as public assets get stolen. Where is the patriotism spirit in us? 

As users, therefore, we can share information with the public about the benefits of these facilities and the role we must play in stopping vandalism. 
Let us cause a sense of ownership of public infrastructure among ourselves. For we all must be vigilant to protect public assets as we appreciate the high costs involved in the installation.

Simon J. Mone,  [email protected]