The Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea, has said inefficient building inspectors of the various Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) particularly in Accra should be severely punished.
He said, the lack of supervision by these public officers has resulted in a situation where a lot of buildings have been wrongly cited across the capital and even in some cases on water ways creating a lot of problems when it rains.
His comments come following a heavy downpour in Accra, yesterday, February 10, 2011 which caused severe flooding in several parts of the capital city.
Some of the areas where the floods caused extensive damage to individual property were Adabraka Official Town, Abossey Okai, the Obetsebi –Lamptey Circle, Odawna and the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, however no lives were lost as has been the case in previous rains.
Officials of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) who received lots of distress calls from residents across the capital yesterday were on hand to deliver rescue services.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana Show Friday, the Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea bemoaned the high level of obstruction of several water bodies in Accra, due to the unchecked citing of buildings.
“ People have built less than 100 feet from storm drains in some cases on water ways, we have allowed this to go on for too long a time such that if we have to take action we have to break the whole city’’, he said.
He added that the relevant authorities should step up their work to ensure that the citing of structures across the capital, conforms to the planning and engineering designs of Accra to avoid the perennial loss of live and property during heavy rains.
Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh