Transform slums to curb poverty - Development expert

The Executive Director of People Dialogue on Human Settlement, Farouk Braimah is calling for a national policy that will restructure slums and make them more decent for habitation.

Speaking to Roland Walker on the AM Show on JoyNews, the slum development expert said, “we need to revisit our policies and responses on issues of slums and squatters and have a more developmental response”.

Citing the recent demolition at Old Fadama as an example, Mr. Braimah suggested authorities should find a better way of engaging and interacting with slum dwellers.

Mr. Braimah also called on government to see the issue of urban poverty as an opportunity to transform the lives of people and not make it worse.

He questioned the prudence of government’s decision to pull down homes of slum dwellers, especially in Ghana, where there is a backlog of housing deficit.

“Using bulldozers to clear people’s lifelong investments doesn’t go down well… The people don’t have homes and the country is down with houses and you continue to destroy homes”.

Mr. Braimah proposed that government should have a dialogue to interrogate the policies and laws that deliver houses and not to render people homeless.

He emphasised the need for city authorities to be interested in how it houses residents.