The Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has announced that 16 structurally unsafe buildings across the Greater Accra Region will be demolished in the coming days to avert further tragedies from building collapses.
The announcement comes a day after the collapse of a three-storey building at Avenor in North Kaneshie on Sunday, June 7, which resulted in the deaths of two people and left three others injured.
Speaking to journalists during a visit to the disaster site, Mr Muntaka said the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has already identified the dangerous structures, which are considered unfit for habitation.
“We are currently doing the evacuations, and they must bring all those buildings down,” the Minister stated. “Currently, NADMO has identified about 16 buildings within the Greater Accra Region that have to come down. We are going to ensure that, coming into the week, they will go and get all those buildings down.”
“Some things are natural, and God will take care of the supernatural, but for the natural ones, we have to take care of them,” he added.
The exercise forms part of a broader government strategy to reduce preventable disasters and strengthen enforcement of building regulations, amid growing public concern over ageing and poorly constructed structures in the capital.
The Avenor incident is the latest in a series of building collapses that have claimed lives and heightened calls for stricter oversight in the construction sector.