Officials of the Ghana Institute of Planners have always been reporting and recommending the pulling down of unauthorised buildings and structures, but the enforcement of these recommendations has always been a problem, its president Alfred Kwesi Opoku has revealed.

According to him, planners cannot take the blame for the seemingly improper planning of Accra because they have a limit to which they can go, as far as demolition of unauthorised structures is concerned.

He made this remark following the recurrence of floods in the capital on Thursday June 9, after a few hours of rainfall. The floods have been blamed on buildings put up on waterways..

Speaking on TV3’s Consumer Watch programme on Sunday June 12, Mr Opoku noted that people would always strive for shelter and accommodation, therefore, will adopt all sorts of means to get building permits to build on waterways and other unauthorised areas, and, so, there is the need for the authorities to crack the whip on people who flout the laws.

He said: “We [Planners] cannot come with a hammer and start breaking down kiosks and buildings. I report and the authority takes it up. So, if we were not reporting what we saw, then you say we have not done our work. We come and report and an order is given – whether policemen or the military should go – they go and do based on our recommendations”.

“The next and final thing is the enforcement of our recommendations… that is where the barrier rests; we don’t go beyond."