Every June, the same ritual. The rain is falling. Accra floods. Ministers tour in life jackets. NADMO gives out mattresses. And we all ask: “Who built on the waterway?”
But there’s a better question we never ask: “Who gave them the permit?”
Ghana’s law already answered that question in 2016.
Section 121 of the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 Act 925 says: “A public officer who issues a development permit contrary to an approved plan commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or to both.”
Read it again. Two years in prison. For signing a permit for a house on a drain.
So here’s the feature question for June 2026: When was the last time a district planner was jailed for flooding?*
Answer: Never. Not once. Not in Accra. Not in Kumasi. Not anywhere.
1. The Law Is Not the Problem. Enforcement Is
Act 925 was hailed as progressive. It replaced the chaotic 1945 Town and Country Planning Ordinance. It gave us the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority. It said every district must have an approved local plan. And it said, in Section 91, that building without a permit is illegal.
But Section 121 went further. It criminalized the supply side of corruption. It said if you, the Planner, Works Engineer, or MCE, sign off on a building that sits on a waterway, wetland, or road reservation, you are a criminal.
The Odaw River at Circle is mapped as a “drainage reserve” in every AMA plan since 1992. Yet walk there today and you’ll find three-storey buildings with AMA permit numbers painted on the walls.
Someone signed those permits. Section 121 says that someone should be in court. They are not.
2. Why No Prosecutions? Follow the Incentives
I spoke to three retired district planners. All asked for anonymity. Their reasons why Section 121 is a dead letter:
a. “The file comes from above.”
“You see a map. The plot is on a drain. You refuse. Next day the MCE calls you: ‘This is the MP’s project. Don’t be difficult.’ If you still refuse, you’re transferred to a district with no car and no fuel. Your career ends. So you sign, and write ‘approved as directed’ in the file. Let them carry the blame.”
b. “No one will testify.”
To jail a planner, you need the permit, the zoning map, and a witness to say ‘this is a waterway.’ The map is at the Assembly. The Assembly won’t release it. The Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority has it, but they report to the Ministry of Local Government – the same ministry that appoints MCEs.
c. “The Attorney-General won’t prosecute.”
Section 121 needs the A-G to file charges. But the A-G is a political appointee. Prosecuting an MCE’s planner during an election year? It doesn’t happen. CHRAJ can investigate, but CHRAJ can’t jail. Only the A-G can.
So the law exists. The evidence exists. The political will does not.
3. The Cost of Impunity: 12 Dead This June Alone
The Interior Minister said this week’s floods left 12 dead, 7 missing, 38,802 displaced. The World Bank’s 2024 Ghana Urban Review estimated Accra loses $105 million every year to floods.
Each time we don’t jail a planner, we send a price signal: A permit on a waterway costs GHS 5,000 in ‘regularization fees’. The penalty is zero.
Meanwhile, Regulation 45 of L.I. 1630 says the Assembly can demolish illegal structures “without compensation.” So the state pays twice: once to dredge, again to pay political costs when it finally demolishes.
If one planner in Adenta had been jailed in 2019 for the permits issued at Lakeside Estate, would the 2022 Ashiyie floods have killed 5 people? We’ll never know. Because we never tested the law.
4. What Would It Take to See Handcuffs?
Step 1: Citizen-led private prosecution
Under Ghana law, private persons can file criminal cases if the A-G refuses. A flood victim in Aboabo with a lawyer could demand the KMA permit file for the warehouse on the drain. If it exists, file a case under Section 121.
Step 2: Publish the permits
LUSPA should be required to put every approved permit online, with GPS coordinates, within 7 days. CSOs like OccupyGhana or CDD can then overlay them on waterway maps. Name and shame in real time.
Step 3: Protect whistleblowers
The Whistleblower Act, 2006 Act 720 exists. But planners say using it ends careers. The Office of the Special Prosecutor should declare one planner a protected witness and go after an MCE. One case would change the culture.
Step 4: Surcharge the Assembly
If a court finds AMA negligent for floods, the damages should be taken from AMA’s Internally Generated Funds, not from the central government. When permit fees suddenly have to pay court judgments, MCEs will think twice.
5. Heads Must Roll, Or We’ll Keep Drowning
Rwanda is not richer than Ghana. But Kigali doesn’t flood like Accra. Why? In 2015, Kigali demolished 1,200 structures on wetlands. Four district officials were jailed for illegal permits. The message stuck.
Ghana has Section 121. Rwanda didn’t need it. We do, and we won’t use it.
So next June, when the waters rise again, remember: The crime is not just the rain. The crime is not just the man who built on the drain. The crime is the signature on the permit. And until that signature leads to a prison cell, the floods will keep coming.
We are not cursed. We are unserious.
The writer is a governance analyst. This article cites public laws: Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 Act 925; National Building Regulations, 1996 L.I. 1630; Whistleblower Act, 2006 Act 720. It is not legal advice. Victims of flooding can contact CHRAJ or the Legal Aid Commission.
Ask Your MCE This Week:
1. How many permits did your Assembly issue for projects within 30 meters of a waterway in 2025?
2. How many officials have been sanctioned under Section 121 of Act 925 since 2016?
If the answer is “zero,” you know why your house floods.
Alexander Afriyie, Supervising Editor, Ghanacrimereport.com and Ghanatalk.com