Demolish more than 10 buildings, go after chiefs who sold wetlands — Oppong Asamoah tells govt

Ghana's flooding problem won't go away until the government shows real political will — and that means knocking down more than just a few buildings.

Vincent Oppong Asamoah, the chairman of Parliament's Works and Housing Committee, said on Joy FM's Newsnight on Wednesday that the country hasn't invested enough in flood prevention and has failed to take the tough decisions needed to fix the crisis.

"Demolishing about 10 structures isn't enough," he said. "We know the major paths through which rainwater flows to the sea. We should trace these waterways and remove all structures blocking them."

The MP is calling for a much wider operation — one that targets every building sitting on natural drainage routes. He says authorities already know where the water flows. They just need the courage to act.

But Oppong Asamoah didn't stop at demolitions. He also wants the people who sold the wetlands to developers to be held accountable.

"Some people sold these wetlands to developers. We need to go after those who sold the lands because for a long time we have focused only on demolishing buildings without finding out who facilitated these developments."

He made it clear that no one should be spared — not politicians, not chiefs, not any influential person.

"If they are politicians, chiefs or other influential persons, the law should not respect anyone. If we truly want to address this situation, we must be firm in the decisions we take," he added.

The legislator pointed out that many of the ponds and wetlands that once helped Accra absorb rainwater have disappeared. They've been filled in and built upon. That encroachment, he says, has made flooding worse in the capital.

His comments come after recent heavy rains triggered fresh flooding in Accra, sparking renewed calls for the government to enforce planning laws and protect the city's remaining wetlands and drainage channels.

Oppong Asamoah also wants an investigation into how developers got permits to build on wetlands in the first place. He argues that accountability must go beyond the bulldozer — the people who approved those illegal developments must also face the law.

For years, Ghana has spent millions of cedis on flood relief and clean-up after every rainy season. But Oppong Asamoah's message is simple: you can't solve flooding with temporary fixes. You have to remove the root cause — and that means upsetting powerful people.

The question now is whether the government has the stomach to do it.