The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kwawu East has assured residents of Kwawu Tafo of a demolition exercise to prevent flooding and protect lives and properties in the town.

Isaac Agyapong, during his visitation to the area after a heavy downpour on Thursday, noted that some residents have built-in water ways, preventing the free flow of water when it rains.

He observed that the number of affected persons has increased because “most of the structures have blocked the waterways.”

“It is a sad situation looking at the way the water has destroyed things. Although they say when it rains, they experience such situations, today’s is worse, as it even destroyed things in the clinic as well,” he said.

“But this shows that the Assembly’s caution against building in waterways, throwing refuse into the gutters must be adhered to, because these have contributed to worsening the problems,” he added.

Mr Agyapong added that “Just as the NADMO officer said, the operations team will visit the area to assess the impact, even though we have also come to see how best we can assist.”

He noted that it is unacceptable for people to build at unauthorized places as stated in the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act.

He, therefore, indicated that those whose structures may be affected during the demolishing will not be compensated.

“Someone has built a wall at an unauthorised place, if it’s demolished, there’s nothing like compensation, because you the individual did not follow due process. You did not acquire a permit from the Assembly,” he said.

“The chiefs have the power to sell the land so they will sell, but we determine the use of the land so at the end of the day, if you acquire [a land] genuinely from the chiefs, but you do not have a permit to build [at the place], yet you build there, the law also allows us to do something about it. So we will apply the law ,” he added.

Speaking in an interview with Adom News, the Kontihene of the town, Nana Okyere Adenya II, appealed to the government to allow the demolishing of such structures to avoid flooding in the future.

“Now a lot of the young ones, including old people have nowhere to sleep, even tonight is a problem. So, we are pleading to the government as a matter of urgency to come to our aid with some blankets to enable the children and older people to get a place to sleep.”

Meanwhile, the District NADMO Director, Felix Osei Asomani Kesse on his part advised everyone to exit their homes anytime it starts to rain, “because this dawn’s rain for instance, was a heavy one.”

“NADMO does not have the powers to demolish someone’s building, so we are appealing, our hands are tied. So we cannot demolish anyone’s building else we will be taken to court,” he told Adom News.

“We have reported the case to the District Assembly, so we are looking forward to them as they have assured that something may be done from tomorrow,” he added.

Some of the affected residents who shared their grievances, appealed for the construction of bridges.