The courts, as well as Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs), have been requested to assist in enforcing cleanliness bye-laws and ensuring behavioral change among residents, especially those residing near the Odaw River basin.
That would assist in addressing poor behavior, such as the careless disposal of trash and the construction of unauthorized structures on watercourses, both of which were major contributors to flooding.
Dr. Kwadwo Ohene Sarfoh, the project coordinator for GARID who made the call, explained that dealing with those unfavorable attitudes and effectively enforcing the bye-laws would go a long way towards preventing flooding as the rainy season approached.
"All Accra residents, especially those in the Odaw River watershed, should examine their lifestyle since poor conduct, such as individuals throwing trash into drainage systems and people constructing in rivers, is a contributing factor to the floods, he said.
On Wednesday, he made the decision during an interview with the Daily Graphic that was conducted outside of a session on stakeholder participation in Accra.
Situation
Due to human conduct, the arrival of the rains for many decades was accompanied by varying degrees of flooding, mostly in Accra.
It is well known that the nation's metropolitan regions confront a variety of issues, such as widening wealth gaps, heightened susceptibility to natural disasters, and the effects of climate change.
In Accra, the Odaw River basin, which is predominantly low-lying terrain, has seen ongoing floods.
Even though the region is low-lying and hence prone to floods, poor sanitation in the immediate vicinity and outside the river's catchment area exacerbates the issue.
The goal of the workshop, which included physical planners, work engineers, magistrates, and prosecutors, was to raise participants' awareness of the importance of creating resilient communities through effective social and behavior change communication in order to mitigate flood risk and manage solid waste responsibly.
The Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, Works and Housing, and Sanitation and Water Resources Ministries collaborated on the interministerial GARID project, which was supported by the World Bank.
The workshop, according to Dr. Sarfoh, was one of several initiatives to make Accra a more competitive, resilient, and alluring city.
He asserted that effective collaboration among all important partners, including those gathered for the workshop, and the imposition of the necessary sanctions to encourage behavior change would ultimately serve as a deterrent to others whose actions negatively impacted the environment and resulted in flooding in the city.