By Francis Kwabena Cofie
Alajo (G/A), July 16, 2026, GNA- Mr. Rudolf Collinwoode- Williams, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Ayawaso Central Municipality, has urged inhabitants not to misuse the power of franchise as a weapon against development.
To this end, he has appealed to inhabitants to cooperate with ongoing development plans and environmental management efforts of the assembly in the area.
In an interview following the recent national clean- up exercise to assess the extent of mitigation efforts, he bemoaned the remarks of some errant developers and encroachers who threatened to vote against government because of attempts to instruct them to provide access for dredgers and other machines to remedy a situation during the recent flood mitigation exercise.
He called on citizens to offer their wholehearted support to development initiatives without hindrance, adding that citizens are major stakeholders to development and the ultimate beneficiaries.
“Let’s free our heart for development to take place but if you do not, and the system descends on you, the question of human face should not arise,” he stressed.
According to him, it was better for lives to be saved than sacrificing lives on the altar of political votes, adding, “we cannot depend on votes while our future is at stake.”
The MCE called on the media to back justified efforts by local government authorities to deal with errant developers and encroachers through the bylaws instead of unduly raising issues of human face application which continues to be a drawback to development.
“No Assembly takes delight in demolishing buildings,” Mr. Collinwoode-Williams said, adding that it was always for the sake of preventing casualties and saving lives which were justified priorities.
He mentioned that the Assembly was endowed with the mandate to bring sanity to development in the area, an authority, he said, would not be compromised.
He disclosed that in other development jurisdictions, though people built waterways, it was under the approval of local authorities so that even in the event of flooding, there was the absence of casualties.
Managing sanitation in the area, he admitted, appeared to be a difficult task in view of the development pattern of the area, but the Assembly, he said, continued to use innovative ways to tackle the challenge.
Though sanitation, he indicated, was a general problem, the Assembly provided tools and equipment to residents to undertake communal clean- ups, explaining that more of such exercises would be carried out to give the area a better image.
The MCE added that the Assembly continued to prioritise sanitation.
He announced that intermittent education would be carried out to sensitise constituents on the importance of a clean environment.
He observed that a considerable chunk of the refuse floating on water in the recent unusual flooding incident and finding its way into homes of residents living near the storm drain were from elsewhere contributing to the massive filth generated.
He cautioned those living near the buffers along the drain to have a mindset renewal in terms of waste disposal and related matters going forward.
“As we keep dumping anytime in the drains especially when it rains, if we don’t suffer the consequences ourselves, we endanger the lives of others,” he said.
He pointed out that, it was obvious people just wanted to be mischievous and not law-abiding, adding that most of the prohibited dumping was done in the dead of night when nobody was watching.
Mr. Collinwoode-Williams extended appreciation to organisations to Lucozade, Latex Foam, Indomie, Goldrich, Let Love Lead, among others, for their support during the exercise.
He, also, on behalf of the Assembly, expressed appreciation to Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly known as Cheddar, a former presidential aspirant and leader of the New Force for his support in the early days of the devastation.
Other well-meaning and benevolent organizations, he said, would be welcomed to make donations to support affected persons.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah