On countless occasions, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom and many meaningful Ghanaians have called on government to make use of the ongoing constitutional review process to remove the appointing powers of the president that allows him to appoint all DCE’s as well as MCEs. This is one of the many reasons why the Volunteers for Nduom have decided to encourage Dr. Nduom to contest and become the president of this nation. The inhumane attitude and the knee-jerk response which the Accra Mayor has taken after the recent disaster make a clear case for the election of DCE’s and MCEs in this country of ours.
A few days ago, the gateway to Africa was visited by some rainfalls and this has led to disaster which has left many homes, families, individuals, companies and entities with sorrow, loss and devastation.
Not only did the rains cause flooding in many parts of the city. It also caused a fire outbreak at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, killing hundreds of people who were seeking shelter in shops and filling stations.
Members of the Volunteers for Nduom 2016 wish to use this medium to wish the families of the bereaved our deepest condolences. It is our wish that this had not happened at all, for we all wish to die a peaceful death during our old age and not a painful death like this which has caused many to fall sick at the sight of the numerous dead bodies which have also been widely circulated on social media.
In the heat of all of these, everyone is talking about the way forward in preventing this from happening in the future. Many have blamed these occurrences on the building of structure in waterways as well as the poor management of refuse by state and individuals. In fact, they are not wrong at all. The rate of indiscipline in Accra and many parts of Ghana is rather on the high side. Indeed, it is these acts of disregard for laid down procedure, ineptitude on the part of some public officials, frustration of developers and undue delay in documentation for the approval of building permit which has led to the placement of many buildings on unapproved places leading to the flooding of the city each time there is slight rain falls.
On the morning of 5th June, it came to our notice that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly - AMA in an attempt to find solutions to the flooding in the city has began demolishing some structures in Mile 7 and Ga West. Whiles we agree in principle with the removal of all structures that are on water ways, we are also mindful of the fact that many of the owners of these structures have permits that have been granted by the AMA and its officials.
In view of this, we cannot agree with the AMA when it purports to demolish such structures. We see it as an attempt to use state machinery to bully, dupe citizens and leave them with no option. The principal question which one should ask is, if the AMA is going to demolish these buildings, what should be done to the AMA officials who took bribes and granted permit to such buildings in areas that were not marked for building? We shall support the AMA in this demolishing exercise if it is able to expose its officials who act in this manner and hand them over to the law. Until that is done, we wish to call on the AMA to put an immediate halt to this ad hoc and irresponsible act of demolishing just for the sake of cheap publicity. Demolition must be a planned exercise that makes room for relocation of its victims; it must not be an ad hoc measure which is taken when there is disaster.
Secondly, we are asking the AMA to stop this demolition because; we know that it will not get anywhere. In the past, all what they did was to destroy one or two houses which belonged to some poor people and then that would be the end of the exercise. We believe it will be very unfair for the AMA to do this again at a time when people are in pain and still mourning the death of their loved ones. Such demolition exercises should have been planned and done long before the rains came and not now that we are already in the rain.
Such irresponsible acts of District and Municipal Assemblies is one of the reasons why we support Dr. Nduom in saying that DCEs and MCEs should be elected by the people.

We wish all Ghanaians well and safe in these trying times.

Richard Nii Amarh
CHAIRMAN
VOLUNTEERS FOR NDUOM 2016
0268857493