By: Jeremiah Nutsugah
The Minister of State for Local Government, Decentralization, and Rural Development, and Member of Parliament for Akuapem South Constituency, Mr. Osei-Bonsu Amoah, has emphasized the need for better planning, spatial distribution, and services in urban areas to prevent flooding.
In an exclusive interview on GTV’s Breakfast Show on June 9, 2024, Mr. Amoah noted that individuals often purchase land in areas without basic services and expect the government to provide them, which can lead to unplanned development and flooding.
“In Accra here, somebody will say that I’ve bought land, let’s say, even if it’s 10 kilometers, but within Accra here. He goes there, there are no services there, no water, no electricity, poor road, everything, but once he has located there, he expects the service to get to him and as more people even add to it, that means that more services will have to be provided.”
He mentioned that people are rather putting up structures in an unplanned manner and expect the government to provide all the necessary services for them. He called on the Municipal and District Assemblies to ensure a strict adherence to their constitutional roles and mandates in order to prevent buildings from springing up in flood-prone areas.
“My problem is, if you are an assembly, you run the Assembly very well, you should know that somebody wants to put a kiosk here. That person is not right to put a kiosk there. You warn the person, the next moment you move the kiosk away, but you see “stop work” and whatever, and the warning is there and it’s there for years.”
He bemoaned the absence of sanctions in the local government structures in the country. According to him, the absence of those sanctions is what have led to the unplanned structures being raised in flood prone areas across the country. This he said has also led to lack of resources in the various District and Municipal Assemblies.
He further called on the Municipal and District Assemblies to be proactive in their checks and supervision of buildings that are being put up in their jurisdiction and clamp down on unauthorized structures at their cradle stage before it is fully built into a house.
