Works and Housing Minister, Samuel Atta Akyea has bemoaned the attitude of residents along major storm drains in Accra who dump refuse into dredged drains.
Ahead of the massive rains predicted by the Ghana Meteorological Agency, the Ministry, together with other relevant state agencies have spent yet-to-be-announced sums of money to dredge and desilt gutters and drains in the country.
However, during a tour of some of these drains in Sukura, Chemunaa, Chorkor and Zamramaline, there was evidence of residents dumping refuse into the drains.
Speaking to the media over the weekend, Mr. Atta Akyea advocated for underground drains to avoid the recurrence.
“What has been done, a couple of days ago, is being defeated by individuals still putting in garbage and that is when it will be silted again and if we are not careful and there’s a heavy downpour, the channel will be closed or shut so the water will scale over to destroy lives, property and livelihood. This is all we talking about.”
“But ideally, the nation should go into what we call subterranean drain in which this gutter, wide as it is, will be underground. You wouldn’t see it. So you won’t have even the opportunity to tip your garbage into it. So these are the serious problems that we are facing. Year in year out, we are paying money to do the same thing. That is what we call a perennial problem,” he noted.
Mr. Atta Akyea had earlier asked citizens to voluntarily desilt drains in their communities to prevent flooding during the rainy season.
The Minister urged Ghanaians “to voluntarily embark on the desilting of choked drains in their own neighbourhoods to permit the free flow of sewage.”
According to him, his ministry was collaborating with the Water and Sanitation and Local Government and Rural Development ministries as well as Municipal, Metropolitan and District Chief Executives and other authorities in the various localities to supervise this exercise.