The Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye has cautioned against the inappropriate ways of disposing off solid waste in drainage channels as the country braces itself for the onset of the rainy season. 

Despite the successes chalked in the country’s flood management programme, Mr Asenso-Boakye says the rate at which people continue to dump refuse into pathways of drainage buffers undermines government’s efforts to mitigate flood risk in communities, noting that “citizens have to be more circumspect in managing household solid waste and desist from using drainage channels as rubbish dumps.”

The sector minister made these statements yesterday in Accra when he addressed the press on issues relating to flooding as the country braces itself for the rainy season.

Asenso-Boakye said the safety of communities especially those in flood-prone areas should be a shared responsibility, adding that “it is incumbent on citizens to support government’s efforts by desisting from indiscriminate disposal of solid waste into drainage channels to reduce their capacity to hold storm water.”

The Minister for Works and Housing therefore called on chiefs, community leaders, civil society groups and the media to support government’s efforts in controlling floods. 

“We can all do so by highlighting incidents of construction in waterways so appropriate state authorities could act promptly while educating the public on dangers of building in waterways and improper disposal of solid waste.”