The Mayor of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has extended a stern warning to residents of old Fadama who have begun constructing their buildings after Thursday, fire outbreak to put a stop to their actions.
According to the Mayor, residents of old Fadama seem to be adamant to warnings from the AMA not to continue putting up structures especially concrete structures since the land on which they do put up those structures is not strong enough and prone to disasters.
Barely 24 hours after the recent fire outbreak that raked parts of the Fadama slum in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of Accra Metropolitan Assembly Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije has fired salvo, giving a stern warning to residence who are rebuilding their structures to stop or face the full rigors of the law.
?The concrete building construction must stop. We can?t allow that to continue, but if persuasion fails, the laws of the land will be applied to those who go contrary to the order,? Dr Vanderpuije stressed.
According to the AMA Mayor, he was very much concern about the rampant fire outbreaks in the Metropolis including Fadama popularly known as ?Sodom and Gomorrah,? saying that steps are being taken by the National Security and the AMA to ensure that lives and properties are protected in the Metropolis.
Dr Vanderpuije fired this warning when he and his Technical Committee members of the AMA paid a visit to Fadama where the incident occurred to warn them to dis-continue building.
According to him, his action was prompted by news items carried in the media revealing how residents, at a faster pace, are building their structures.
The Mayor who is very passionate about the lives of the people of Accra indicated that there is a potential of possible disaster should they allow Fadama residents continue construction, indicating that most of the structures are being built on the ashes from previous fire disasters.
According to the Mayor an evaluation conducted at the scene of the previous fire outbreak revealed that since the people are building on saw dust, there is possible danger hence his warning to the people to desist from building concrete structures.
Dr Vanderpuije lamented that although his outfit has issued series of warnings during and after the previous disaster, residents failed to comply eventually leading to the recent fire outbreak.
According to him, ?After the May 4th incident we advised the people not to construct, but surprisingly they went against this decision. And we can all see the result now.?
However, in charting a way forward, the Mayor of Accra has invited the Fadama Community leaders for a meeting today, Monday at 4pm to craft a possible solution, insisting that the Assembly will not allow residents to go against the warning.
On his part, the Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister Mr. Isaac Nii Djanmah Vanderpuije expressed worry over the increasing rate of fire outbreaks in some parts of the Region and called on Fadama residents to exercise caution in their day to day activities and remain calm for the City authorities to come out with possible solutions to their problems.
Responding to the concern raised by the Accra Mayor and the Accra Regional Minister, the Chairman of the Fadama Community Development Association, Alhaji Abdulai Suleimana thanked the City authorities for taking proactive actions to stop the ongoing construction.
According to him, the community has about fifty (50) task force who will ensure that the order from the City authorities to stop residents from re-building their structures particularly, concrete structures, is adhered to.
