In recent times,?some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have embarked on the demolition of structures and settlements throughout the country?actions which have attracted public angst in some cases whilst some sections of the public have equally applauded same actions for various reasons. Some institutions have also embarked on similar demolition of structures and settlements on the grounds that those occupying those lands have encroached on public lands. As usual public emotions have gone against the institutions rather than those individuals who have built on lands that do not belong to them.
Our major cities are full of settlements which do not meet the minutest of building regulations and requirements, except that they are roofed structures that shelter people from rain and the heat of the sun. Our growing towns and villages are no different. People build anyhow with whatever materials are available without taking into consideration the basic building regulations. The state of our cities and towns did not begin today. Many of the Zongos found in the middle of our cities with ?modern? settlements did not spring up today. They date back to the colonial era when laws and regulations were supposed to be in full force.
There are also the traditional communities that existed long before migration expanded them into very big towns and cities. In some cases, the new or developing areas have modern houses with some basic amenities which are very much absent in the old settlements. It is very common these days for new settlements around traditional communities to be called, for example, Fijai Hills, Fijai Ridge,?Assakae Newtown etc. These new settlements are areas properly planned by the MMDAs with streets well demarcated and drains constructed when the roads were being constructed. Such settlements do not usually have problems with toilets for example.
There is however an emerging phenomenon where some Ghanaians put up structures in open spaces in our cities and towns. Some of these structures begin as ?harmless? barbering shops or petty retail shops. The usual nonchalant attitude of public officials towards this petty indiscipline allows such areas to soon develop into communities which have no toilet facilities, no streets, no drains and no properly designated final waste disposal sites.
The funny names given to such places tell the story on their own. These areas also accommodate some of the deviants in our society?robbers, drug peddlers and users as well as prostitutes. When there are outbreaks of contagious diseases in such areas, the spread is usually fast and deadly in many cases.
It is the responsibility of the MMDAs to ensure that such illegal settlements, in terms of ownership of the lands and adherence to the rules and regulations guiding physical development, do not spring up in the first place. Act 462 of 1993 empowers MMDAs, in collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission, to put in place development plans for districts. Section 48 of the Act states; ?An approved district development plan shall be complied with by any person, body or organ in the district responsible for or connected with the implementation of the plans.?
Section 49(1) says that ?No physical development shall be carried out in a district without prior approval in the form of written permit granted by the District Planning Authority. Section 52 (1) says that ?Where
(a) physical development has been or is being carried out without a permit contrary to this Act ; or
(b) conditions incorporated in a permit are not complied with,
a District??Planning Authority may give written notice in such form as may be prescribed by regulations to the owner of the land requiring him on or before a date specified in the notice to show cause in writing, addressed to the District Planning Authority, why the unauthorised development should not be prohibited, altered, abated, removed or demolished.?
Section 53 (1) states; ?A District Planning Authority may, for the purpose of enforcing an approved development plan?
(a)???Prohibit, abate, remove, pull down or alter so as to bring into conformity with the provisions of the approved plan, any physical development which does not conform to those provisions, or the abatement, removal, demolition or alteration of which is necessary for the implementation of an approved plan;
(b)???Prohibit the use of any land or building for a purpose or in a manner contrary to any provisions of an approved plan, etc.
Clause (2) of section 53 obligates the District Planning Authority, before taking any of the actions above, to serve notice in a form prescribed by regulations on the owner of the land in respect of which the action is proposed to be taken and on any other person who in its opinion may be affected by it, specifying the nature of and the grounds upon which it proposes to take the action.
In fact, in some instances, the District Planning Authority may take instant actions without prior notice to the affected.
There is nowhere in this Act which enjoins the MMDAs to take instructions from a sector minister before enforcing its development plan. The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development has no such powers, under the law, to instruct the MMDAs on how to go about enforcing their development plans.??One would have expected that in the midst of the outbreak of cholera and the number of recorded deaths and the affected people, the minister would rather encourage the MMDAs to enforce building regulations to ensure that every home, shop or office occupied by people on a daily basis at least has a toilet facility.
In the centre of Accra, many of the shops and stores do not have toilets in them. Where do the people who stay in those shops for eight hours a day, ease themselves should they have to attend nature?s call? Obviously they do them in very unorthodox ways and dump the human waste in our uncovered drains. The outcome is the filth and its attendant health hazards confronting this nation. Many markets and other unauthorised settlements have been razed down by fires because men and women of the Ghana National Fire Service drive to the scene of fire just to be confronted with accessibility problem.
The President and other high government officials visit the scenes, admonish victims against illegal developments, shed a few crocodile tears?which have become very common with public officials of today, anyway?promise them buckets, chamber pots, blankets in the hot weather, and the next day life continues as usual. The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, by his directive, is only encouraging lawlessness in the physical development in this country.
The minister wants MMDAs to notify him or take permission from him before containers and kiosks, which are mushrooming on a daily basis along major roads and along streets and pedestrian walk-ways, can be removed or demolished. Isn?t it absurd? It is very unfortunate that our generation of political leaders are more interested in holding on to political power than making this country a beautiful place for all of us to live in and bequeath a well- organised society to the generations unborn. Yes, elections are very close; so the minister will sacrifice discipline and lawful ways of doing things for populist political votes.
I remember during the Kufuor era, Stanley Agyiri Blankson, the then Mayor of Accra, took bold but unpopular steps to decongest the capital city. Just as the majority of the people were applauding him, an order from a deputy minister at the Local Government Ministry brought down all the good things he had done, simply because of an impending Odododiodio bye-election which the NPP lost anyway. Why should every decision taken in this country be based on political gains rather than national interest? I am so disappointed in the Hon Julius Debrah.
This country is sinking, stinking and collapsing under the weight of indiscipline in the way we do things. Any corrective measure should begin from the local level?that is, the MMDAs. Even as the MMDAs have such huge deficit in enforcing their own bye-laws and regulations, the least anybody can do is to further make them powerless when they have a little ball to do something right. This is a shameful exhibition of unproductive power by the minister.
Daavi, please give me some three tots of the mahogany bitters.
From Kwesi Biney
