Ga East Chiefs Association in the Ga East Municipal Assembly have made an emergency appeal to the Municipal Chief Executive over the alarming destruction and illegal encroachment of the Dakobi River by private developers carrying out reckless housing projects along the river body.
The chiefs and concerned community leaders described the continuous filling and diversion of the Dakobi River as an environmental catastrophe and a ticking time bomb that threatens thousands of lives and properties across the Municipality.
According to the traditional authorities, the destructive activities by private individuals have severely weakened the road corridor around the Dakobi stretch and are gradually causing the Dakobi River bridge to sink, creating an imminent danger for motorists and residents who use the route daily.
The Dakobi River, one of the largest natural water collection points within the Municipality, plays a critical role in absorbing huge volumes of rainwater flowing from the Akuapem South mountain range. However, unchecked encroachment and indiscriminate filling of the river body have drastically reduced its capacity, leading to devastating consequences during rainfall.
Communities including Pantang, Abokobi, Agbogba, Nyamekrom, Teiman and surrounding areas — which historically never experienced flooding — are now suffering severe floods anytime it rains, destroying homes, displacing families, damaging roads and wiping out properties worth millions of Ghana cedis.
Traditional authorities warned that if immediate action is not taken, the situation could spiral into a full-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster, especially now that the rainy season has intensified.
The Dakobi River also serves as a critical boundary between the Ga East Municipal Assembly and the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly, making the matter one of urgent regional concern requiring swift inter-assembly collaboration.
Community members are therefore calling on government agencies, environmental authorities, engineers, planners, NADMO and security agencies to immediately halt all illegal developments along the river course, demolish unauthorized structures, dredge the river and restore the waterway before more lives are lost.
Residents insist that failure to act now will amount to abandoning innocent citizens to avoidable floods, collapsing infrastructure and needless tragedy…
