Demolition Exercise Must Be Total

The Government Spokesperson and Minister for Media Relations, Ms Elizabeth Ohene has announced the government’s intentions to undertake a massive demolition of unauthorised structures, particularly those built in water ways, to prevent the recurrence of floods as happened on Wednesday.

She was answering questions from journalists on what the government was doing to reduce the damage caused by floods in Accra (see report on front page). Flooding has been a recurrent problem in the city since 1965 and the causes and effect seem to have remained the same. Accra, as a city, is deficient in proper planning because developers fail to observe regulations and the city’s layout.

Over-population resulting from the migration of people to Accra in search of jobs has put extreme pressure on accommodation in the city. The consequence has been that desperate residents have had no other alternative than to create squatter camps and sprawling slums in various parts of the city.

Such camps, with no proper sanitary facilities and with structures scattered about without regard to water flow directions, constitute a direct contribution to flooding, when there is more than average rainfall. It should be noted, however, that besides the activities of squatters, there are other factors that contribute to the cyclic flooding problems in Accra.

The most prominent among them is the haphazard development pattern of the city. Without any regard to acceptable city planning, developers have tended to put up structures in areas where common sense and legality dictate otherwise.

The net result has been the erection of residential buildings in water ways, locations earmarked for social facilities and even at places scientifically proven to be dangerous for human settlements such as on fault lines and flood-prone areas.

Over the years, the GRAPHIC has had the occasion to draw the attention of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to the wrong siting of structures but this has virtually gone unheeded. We are, therefore, gratified that the government has decided to undertake the painful duty of demolishing structures that are wrongly sited and could constitute potential danger to public good. However, we hope that in undertaking this exercise, the axe would fall equally on all offenders.

The fear is that more often than not when such exercises are carried out, the voiceless and those without social and political connections become the victims.

Places such as a “Sodom and Gomorra” and “Abuja” which are populated by the dregs of society are often the easy targets while the big offenders in areas like Dzorwulu, East Legon and some of the new settlements springing up all over Accra are left untouched because of their status in society or their ability to influence the demolition gangs.

The GRAPHIC hopes that any demolition exercise to be undertaken henceforth would be fair and just. Whilst that is being done, it is important that the city authorities keep an eye on real estate developers some of whose projects leave much to be desired. In recent times some of the residents of these estates have complained about either poor drainage or lack of drainage in some of the settlements.

As a result of Wednesday’s floods, we wish to draw attention to damages caused to the two bridges on the Spintex and Legon roads. The road that runs through the Tema Light Industrial Area has become a vital link between various parts of Accra and the new developments around the Tema municipality.

The destruction of the bridge on the Spintex Road, in particular, has effectively closed this link, thus compounding the traffic situation on the other roads, mainly the Teshie Beach Road and the Tema Motorway.

The GRAPHIC is relieved by the decision of the government to award the contract through selective bidding to save time. However, we would wish that the Field Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces be made to put the bridges into temporary use while measures are taken to have them permanently fixed. We lend our full support to any genuine action that would be taken to rid the city of structures that tend to endanger public safety and hope that next year there would be no floods.