A CitizenSpeaks Editorial
By Citizen Kofi Owusu
The recent demolition exercises across Accra, Tema, Kumasi and other metropolitan areas have reignited a national conversation on urban planning, environmental protection and governance. Across the country, excavators have pulled down homes, shops, containers and other structures erected on waterways, wetlands and public reservations.
For many Ghanaians, the exercise is a necessary step toward protecting lives and property. Others see it as painful but unavoidable. Yet beneath the rubble lies a more important question: are we solving the problem, or merely dealing with its consequences?
No reasonable person can defend the construction of buildings on waterways. Every rainy season, Ghana pays a heavy price for blocked drainage systems through floods that destroy homes, businesses and, tragically, human lives. Government therefore has both a constitutional and moral responsibility to safeguard lives, protect public infrastructure and preserve the environment.
Yet demolitions should not mark the end of the conversation. Rather, they should begin a deeper national discussion about how these illegal structures were allowed to emerge in the first place.
Buildings do not appear overnight. A house may take months or even years to complete, while commercial facilities often require substantial investment before becoming operational. Throughout this process, several institutions have clear legal responsibilities. Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, Physical Planning Departments, the Lands Commission, environmental regulators, utility providers and, in many cases, traditional authorities all play important roles in land administration and development control.
If a structure is today declared illegal, where exactly did the system fail? Did the failure occur during land allocation, the approval of building permits, the commencement of construction, or because authorities simply failed to enforce the law? These are uncomfortable questions, but they deserve honest answers.
Equally worrying is the apparent inconsistency in enforcement. Across the country, numerous structures have stood on waterways and public lands for years without intervention. Yet after every major flood disaster, enforcement suddenly becomes swift and uncompromising. Effective regulation should not begin after tragedy strikes; it should begin the moment an illegal foundation is laid.
There is also an important human dimension that cannot be ignored. Not everyone occupying these structures intentionally violated the law. Some purchased land believing it had been legally acquired. Others invested their life’s savings after obtaining documents they believed were genuine. While ignorance of the law does not excuse illegality, government must distinguish between deliberate encroachers and citizens who became victims of institutional failures or fraudulent land transactions.
Justice must therefore extend beyond demolition. If homeowners lose their investments because officials approved developments that should never have been sanctioned, should those officials not also be held accountable? If traditional authorities knowingly allocated protected lands, should they not share responsibility? If public officers accepted inducements to ignore violations, should they not answer for the consequences?
Demolition without accountability risks punishing only the visible offenders while allowing those who enabled the violations to escape responsibility. That approach weakens public confidence in state institutions and does little to prevent future encroachment.
Ghana’s urban challenges cannot be solved with bulldozers alone. The country needs comprehensive reforms that strengthen planning laws, modernise land administration, digitise building permit systems, improve real-time monitoring of developments and ensure swift prosecution of officials who neglect their responsibilities. Public education on environmental protection and responsible land use must also become a continuous national priority.
Above all, there must be consistency in the application of the law. Illegal structures should remain illegal regardless of who owns them, their political affiliation or their social status. The law must apply equally to the market trader, the homeowner, the business owner and the influential developer.
The current demolition exercise presents Ghana with an opportunity that extends beyond clearing waterways. It is an opportunity to restore confidence in public institutions and demonstrate that planning regulations exist not to punish citizens, but to protect lives, property and the environment.
Bulldozers may remove today’s illegal structures, but only accountability, prevention and good governance can prevent tomorrow’s. Until Ghana strengthens its planning institutions, enforces the law consistently and holds every responsible actor accountable, the costly cycle of illegal construction, flooding and demolition is likely to continue.
The real solution is not demolition alone. It is accountability. It is prevention. It is good governance.
— Citizen Kofi Owusu
CitizenSpeaks