The Right Reverend Dr Gordon Kisseih, First Vice President of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) has called for a stop to the disposal of solid waste into drainage channels.
He said the practice was compromising the safety of Ghanaians and could also impede the efforts of Government towards finding a sustainable solution to the perennial flooding in the country.
Rt. Rev. Dr Kisseih was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Accra on Tuesday on the perennial flooding in the country.
He blamed the inaction of city authorities and gross indiscipline on the part of the citizenry for the perennial flooding in the country, particularly Accra.
Rt. Rev. Dr Kisseih who is also the General Overseer of the Life International Church expressed regret that weak enforcement of laws on the built environment, rapid urbanization, haphazard construction, ineffective engineering of drains and poor waste management were some of the contributing factors to the annual flooding.
“It’s a cause for concern that flooding had been discussed at length every year, but no serious action has been taken on it,” he said.
On how to address the situation, Rt. Rev. Dr Kisseih said the situation was multi-layered and revolved around enforcement, reducing the amount of water that was thrown out into drains and increasing the capacity of the drains to carry water by ensuring that there was no silt grit and garbage in the channels.
He called for the promotion of the conservation of water as an incentive regime for people who incorporated systems to harvest rainwater into their building designs.
Rt. Rev. Dr. Kisseih stressed the need for the enforcement of the law that empowered Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to demolish unauthorized structures to allow for free flow of water during rainfall.
