Ashanti Regional Minister, Simeon-Osei Mensah has been urged to take over the work of the various metropolitan, municipal, and district chief executives (MMDCEs) if they are not being effective in the discharge of their duties.
This call comes after most parts of the region suffered severe flooding after a heavy downpour on Thursday, June 24, 2020.
Former Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) boss, Dr. Samuel Sarpong attributed the mass flooding in the Ashanti Region to the ineffectiveness of the various assemblies. “The cause of this issue is rather simple. It has been caused simply because the assemblies are sleeping on their jobs. When I was at KMA, I made sure desilting exercises happened on the regular but that is not the case now. The assemblies are also not enforcing rules and regulations. Instead of punishing people who disregard rules, the assemblies are refusing to do so with the excuse they fear losing the next election and that is not right. I believe if these people are punished, they will appreciate the assemblies for ensuring sanity.”
According to him, if the assemblies are refusing to work, then the Regional Minister must step in and ensure the work is done to prevent such disasters from happening again. “If the assemblies are not working, the Regional Minister must take the bull by its horn, do the work the assemblies are refusing to do. He doesn’t need to fold his arm and say he is overseeing their work.”
He charged Simeon-Osei Mensah to learn from the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey to make the Ashanti Region works. “Just like the Greater Accra Regional Minister is doing the work, Simeon-Osei Mensah must learn from him.”
Ashanti Regional Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Kwabena Nsenkyire adding to this call urged the Ashanti Regional Minister to put his power to bear if the assemblies are not doing the needful.
To him, if the Regional Minister achieves success without the help of the assemblies then he sees no need for them and championed their dissolution.
Property running into thousands of cedis have been destroyed by flood in the Ashanti Region, including the newly-built Kejetia Market in Kumasi.
This comes after two hours of rain which affected parts of the city. The Ashanti Regional capital has experienced two successive nights of heavy rains.
At the Kejetia market, shopkeepers made an effort to remove any remaining floodwater from their stalls, after the water receded.
Three persons were hospitalised on Wednesday at Atasemanso in the Kumasi metropolis after the wall of a building collapsed following a downpour.
The three have subsequently been treated and discharged. One person, a toddler, is also reported to have died after he was carried away during the rain.
