To stop construction on waterways, the Ministry requests assistance from National Security
Three Nkwanta cell escapees were sentenced by the Jasikan Circuit Court in the Oti Region to two years each in prison with hard work.
Mohammed Kadir, Stephen Asamoah, and Danjumah Afum are the prisoners.
Out of nine people who escaped the Nkwanta South Divisional Police cell on April 4 after overpowering an on-duty police officer, three were apprehended and entered a guilty plea to unauthorised escape.
Based on the three defendants’ plea to serve as a deterrence to others, the court, presided over by Mr. Alfred Kwabena Asiedu, sentenced them to prison.
Asamoah, who was defilement-arrested, received an additional 12-year term, while Kadir had his robbery prosecution withdrawn due to a lack of evidence.
The Kpeshie Lagoon, wetlands, and its buffer reserve areas were being filled with building materials to recover the land for development, he said, citing a situation in the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly.
It is difficult for the Assembly to put an end to the illegal activities in the reserved area, according to Mr. Asenso-Boakye, who said that the Ministry had learned that the location was guarded by armed men sent by developers.
The MCE described a situation in which one of the developers threatened him and demanded that he learn how the predecessor died.
The Minister said, “It will be remembered that the predecessor was supposedly killed when a vehicle ran into her as she was exercising on the street.
Building on watercourses, which causes recurring floods, has become “a big development issue,” according to Mr Asenso-Boakye. He also added that efforts by the government to improve the situation in Accra were being undermined by human activity.
According to him, “to address the challenges brought about by humans, the Ministry has engaged with the Ministry of National Security to seek support for the Assemblies to enforce planning laws and building regulations to stop development on the Kpeshie wetlands and other water bodies throughout the country.”
Mr. Asenso-Boakye urged citizens to assist government initiatives by adhering to settlement planning laws and regulations and refraining from developing in rivers and drainage buffers.
Through the 2018 and 2020 National Flood Control Programmes, he claimed that the Ministry has achieved significant strides in its efforts to lower flood risks and the frequency of flooding in communities that are prone to flooding.
According to the Minister, the Government has allocated GHc 450 million to the National Flood Control Programme as of today.
According to him, 84 drainage channel building projects and 370 desilting projects under the Programme had been finished, and another 118 were in various stages of completion.
In order to provide people in vulnerable communities with the benefit of early warning of floods so they may take precautions to protect their lives and property, Mr. Asenso-Boakye said the Ministry was also building Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) for the Greater Accra Region.
He promised that “the Ministry will continue to engage the Ministry of Finance to raise the necessary funds to improve our communities’ flood resilience.”