President John Dramani Mahama has blamed Ghana’s recurrent flooding partly on chiefs who sell land in streams and wetlands, telling a London diaspora town hall that such sales block drainage.
Speaking to Ghanaians in the United Kingdom, the President likened the problem to building inside London’s canals, asking where the water would then go. He said traditional rulers were parcelling out plots in streams, leaving floodwater to back up into homes.
“Our traditional rulers are selling plots in streams,” he said, warning that filling protected wetlands shrinks the space available to absorb heavy rain.
He singled out Ramsar sites, the wetlands Ghana protects under an international convention partly because migratory birds shelter there in winter. Building on them, he said, reduces their capacity and pushes water into surrounding communities.
Mahama did not place the blame on chiefs alone. He faulted local councils and assemblies for weak enforcement, noting that permits were sometimes issued for houses in waterways, and acknowledged that demolitions often draw accusations that the government is being cruel.
The remarks come as parts of Accra battle fresh flooding this rainy season. Planning experts and some traditional authorities, including the Ga Mantse, have in recent days made similar calls for the prosecution of chiefs who sell land in waterways.
