The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Kwadaso, Eric Assibey, has warned Ghanaians to stop building on waterways to avoid flooding in the country.

According to him, the country’s recurring flood disasters will worsen if the practice continues.

Speaking to the media after a National Sanitation Exercise at Sofoline, Tanoso, Dominase and the Topre section of the Dwahweɛ Stream, Hon. Assibey blamed human activity for the increasing incidence of floods in Ghana, particularly in the Ashanti Region.

He explained that indiscriminate construction of houses and other structures on waterways also causes flooding during rains.

The MCE said the sanitation exercise involved desilting and dredging of the stream to allow water to flow freely and reduce the risk of flooding during the rainy season.

He believes that clearing choked drains alone will not solve the problem, stating that the public must also change its attitude towards environmental sanitation and land development.

Mr Assibey appealed to residents to keep their surroundings clean and avoid activities that block the natural flow of water. He added that good governance and environmental protection are shared responsibilities.

On land development, Hon. Assibey urged prospective developers to follow due process when acquiring land and obtaining building permits.

He advised that qualified professionals should inspect all lands to ensure they are not located in waterways or flood-prone areas.

"I'm urging everyone that whenever we're observing sanitation day, they shouldn't exempt themselves from it, because if we start removing choked drains from our small waters, the water will just have its way through it without bringing dirts and sickness to our Health.

"Before you'll build a house, you'll firstly buy a land, and the moment you buy the land, you have to plan what you actually wants to do on the land.

"After that you have to bring it to our office so that our officers who are in charge of works also go through it and come to the land to do visibility studies to know if here is a waterlogged area.

"And if the place is a waterlogged area then you can't build four storey building and because of that we have reduced it to two. The plans you brought it, you have to do it again," he said.

The Ashanti Regional Deputy Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Alhaji Rabiu, said the organisation has rolled out measures to address persistent flooding in parts of the region.

He explained that the intervention forms part of the government’s broader disaster preparedness strategy under President John Dramani Mahama.

He added that the goal is to protect lives and property and reduce the impact of floods nationwide.