Kantamanto Fire Disaster

STATEMENT FROM THE GHANA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS / GHANA INSTITUTE OF PLANNERS

It is most unfortunate that the most vulnerable in our society are the ones that suffer daily from institutional ineptitude.

Barely 48 hours after the Kantamanto fire disaster, we are at it again promising reform and committing the same mistakes from the very institutions that should be blamed for the unfortunate incident.

This is one of many disasters in the recent past that could have been avoided if officials responsible for ensuring sanity and civility in our social development process were more up to the task.

Talk about Makola market, Adomi Bridge, the round Pavilion at the Trade Fair center, Takoradi market, collapsing buildings in Kumasi, Tema, Accra, flooded settlements in Accra, Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions and Keta, squatter and unauthorised development in urban areas, gas explosion in residential areas in Kumasi, shooting incident at Ashaiman, general non-enforcement of building regulations and you cannot help but conclude that there is something fundamentally wrong with our local governance processes.

But once again a viable platform has been provided for politicians and public officials to look good in the eyes of the victims as genuine sympathisers when they should be held responsible for the unfortunate situation. They are still promising elusive remedy after the fact.

The Ghana Institute of Architects and the Ghana Institute of Planners wish to express their profound sympathy with the enterprising victims of these disasters while sounding a note of caution to those responsible for ensuring sanity in our communities that one more disaster may be one too many for stability as a nation.

There are effective laws on safety, sanitation, town planning, building development, utilities, etc, etc and relevant institutions that have procedures for ensuring regulated development in all sectors of our society.

The Town Planning Department has totally failed in its leadership role in directing the physical development of the City. Our markets and lorry stations, despite attracting such huge concentrations of human activity, remain unplanned, defying any rules of basic engineering, planning and architecture. The factors responsible for the Kantamanto disaster are visible at all the markets and major lorry stations, yet, there is no agenda for responding to the challenges that these public places pose. The Kantamanto disaster will certainly not be the last of such tragedies; it is only a matter of time.

The Town Planning Department, A.M.A., G.N.F.S., N.A.D.M.O., E.C.G., G.W.C.L., Lands Commission, E.P.A., cannot escape blame for the Kantamanto fire disaster. Institutions must be accountable if we have to make progress in our governance processes. We should recognize : 1.The need for Intergrated Planning schemes for all Metroploitan and District Assemblies 2.The need for enforcement of Building Regulations and Assembly Bye-laws with regards to Physical development 3.The intergration of the development process to ensure integrity of permits 4.An analysis of existing Local Government Bill to determine if it responds to current development practises and urbanisation process. 5.The urgent need to use professional instituitions and personnel for all development projects 6.Need to re-examine the instituitional arrangement between development agencies and utility suppliers. 7.Better recognition and consultation with Government on development issues - Policy,Monitoring, Planning,Regulation,Design etc. 8.Urgent need to consider disaster prevention and management response in physical development schemes.

Let us stop glorifying or justifying mediocrity and failures of our physical development agencies and apply appropriate global professional practice to how we develop our towns and cities. Let our politicians for once, appreciate the relevance of professionals especially those of the built environment.

It is important to point out the relationship between economic planning and physical development we cannot move forward as a nation if we continue to pay lip service to rules and regulations governing our physical development process. We are willing partners for social development. Several professionals of the built environment have for long been sidelined while the rot aggravates. Let there be visionary leadership that will challenge the professionals to transform our cities and towns if we genuinely wish to move out of poverty and physical degradation.