Flooding: ‘Draconian’ Sanctions Needed To Curb Indiscipline

Social commentator and financial journalist, Toma Imirhe, has called for what he describes as “draconian” punishments for Ghanaians who break sanitation laws and regulations.

This, he said, will help ensure an attitudinal change in Ghanaians with regards to waste management, which will go a long way to reduce human factors that cause flooding in the country.

Speaking on Citi FM's news analysis programme, The Big Issue, Toma stated that politicians often interfere in the punishment of lawbreakers as they feel a backlash from the citizens would result in decreased support in elections.

“What we need to do is go with the draconian punishment for people who have bad attitudes. The politicians need to do the math properly. A politician calculates that if he allows people to be punished he will lose out on votes and the politician gets scared,” he said.

He, however, argued that if the politicians ensure that persons are accordingly punished for their sanitation infractions and the flooding situation in the country improves, this will translate into increased backing from citizens during the polls.

“If you punish ten people and it improves the situation of the community, on election day, the average voter is going to vote on the basis of change in the community under the leadership of whoever was in power,” he stated.

Tamale Central MP, Inusah Fuseini on the same programme also said if the government is able to enforce the various bye-laws that impose fines on Ghanaian citizens for indisciplined behaviour, the proceeds can contribute significantly to the country's budget.

According to him, if laws are correctly applied, and people are fined for flouting laws, the monies can be used to work on a lot of projects the government seeks aid for.

A downpour last Monday didn't just destroy properties and killed ten people, it also exposed the filth the city of Accra is engulfed in.