Agyarko Oduro Fredrick, of the Local Government Institute, has blamed the Metropolitans, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), for the perennial flooding recorded in Ghana- especially Accra.
According to him, most of the assemblies have failed in dealing with the erection of buildings on waterways and sanitation which are major contributing factors to the usual flooding.
“The assemblies are to ensure that before a structure is erected, the owner of the structure must first obtain a permit from the Assembly”, he said.
However in most cases, he claims there are a lot of buildings which are illegally constructed and the assemblies do nothing about it. He signaled that the illegal structures contribute massively to the perennial flooding in Ghana.
Reacting to President Akufo-Addo’s order to MMDCEs to ensure all illegal structures are demolished on MOVEMENT IN THE MORNING on Thursday, Agyarko Oduro Fredrick also attributed the perennial flooding of Accra to the lack of political will on the part of MMDCEs tasked to solve the problem.
“There are laws in this country, but the assemblies are not enforcing the law”, he charged adding that in the local government act, it’s clear that before you build on any land “you must obtain a permit from the assembly, but there are many homes which do not have building permits”.
Those who have been put in charge to ensure that people conform with the building regulations, in his view are “sitting down without doing their work.”
He warned those who pay bribes to construct their building on waterways to desist from doing so because- “when you’re found guilty, the bribe you paid voids the validity of the permit obtained”, he added.
He urged the MMDCEs to help tackle the trend.
Flooding has been a major problem over the years for cities of most developing countries across the world. In Ghana, the major cities especially Accra are noted for the prevalent occurrence of floods and their related menace.
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