The founder of Channel Two Communications, David Ampofo has said it is highly possible that the ongoing construction at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle was the cause of Wednesday’s floods in the area.
He acknowledged that the Kwame Nkrumah Circle is known to be a flood prone area but he argued that there is a probability that some actions of the contractors could have led to the massive flooding of the area.
Speaking at Citi FM’s, Fixing the urban mess forum on the theme: ‘This Must Stop,’ Mr. Ampofo said: “…all that happened the other day at Circle could simply be because of that construction work that is taking place there now.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”m2auyVItFnVljpadykfWW7lFycuHmATx”]“We can talk about a whole range of things; it probably could just be the construction work that is taking place at Circle and so people there must be held accountable for conducting themselves in a manner that in a way could have led to that. It is possible.”
The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation has been meeting with stakeholders to figure out ways to mitigate the many challenges facing the capital city in the wake of the floods which caused major destruction.
According to David Ampofo, flooding in Accra “is nothing new” but it only points to the fact that “we are clearly not proactive because these rains are not coming when they like. God has told us when he is going to give us rain. We know that the rain is at its best in June so what is it about us that makes it impossible to prepare for it?”
He queried why city authorities failed to desilt the Odaw River and clean up the city in the lead up to the rainy season to mitigate the impact of the flooding.
“This is not healthy, it leads to public health issues, and it’s really not right,” he fumed.
Mr. Ampfo remarked that “this terrible tragedy really must not happen again…this tragedy has indeed become the latest and if we are not careful, again, we shall deal with this in a kneejerk way without realizing that this has happened because certain things have not been done.”
Implement laws
David Ampofo said the government must return to the laws which supervise the development of the country and enforce them.
He admitted that there are challenges in enforcing the laws but stressed that the challenges should not stop them because the nation is “dealing with some real problems.”
Stop feeling sorry
The Channel Two Communication’s boss recommended that the government and city authorities should desist from feeling sorry for people whose actions and inactions are hurting the city.
“This is part of our problem – ‘this I feel sorry for this, I feel sorry for that’; it is wrong because there is no reason to let people do things that will kill all of us.”
He observed that “everybody is desperate, rat race, we must all get something, we are all in Accra – this will kill us. We carry on, we allow it, we feel sorry for people; we are always feeling sorry for people.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @ osamidan