Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has announced that 16 buildings across the Greater Accra Region, deemed structurally unsafe, will be demolished in the coming days to avert further tragedies from building collapses. The directive follows the collapse of a three‑storey structure at Avenor in North Kaneshie on Sunday, June 7, which claimed two lives and left three others injured.
Speaking to journalists at the disaster site, the Minister explained that the government, working through the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), has already identified several hazardous structures unfit for habitation. He stressed that urgent steps are being taken to evacuate residents and demolish the affected buildings to safeguard lives and property.
“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. “We are currently doing the evacuations, and they must bring all those buildings down. I mean, some things are natural, and God will take care of the supernatural, but for the natural ones, we have to take care of them.”
The Interior Minister said the exercise forms part of a broader government strategy to reduce preventable disasters and ensure that unsafe structures do not become death traps for residents. The Avenor collapse is the latest in a series of incidents that have renewed concerns about the dangers posed by ageing, poorly maintained, and improperly constructed buildings, highlighting the need for stricter enforcement of building safety regulations.
Source: Wahab Abdul Razak
