THE GREATER Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, has sent a word of caution to persons residing on Ramsar sites in Accra to vacate the place or risk their houses being demolished
“Those occupying Ramsar sites, we are coming. By next week, we will be there. If you know that you are not seated well, then be prepared. We are coming”, the minister said during a meeting with owners of unauthorised structures on some 900 acres of government land belonging to the Animal Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-ARI) in Accra.
According to Mr. Quartey, the presence of persons on Ramsar sites is a major contributor to the perennial flooding in Accra.
People tend to fill the sites with various wastes and end up putting up buildings on them, thereby preventing the flow of water when it rains and consequently causing floods.
He said the government, even though, was committed to fighting head-on, the flood menace in the country, especially in Accra, would not keep using the taxpayer’s money to only dredge drains while some persons block the free flow of water and entreated the public to cooperate with the government in ending the menace in the country.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio