Officials taking money for illegal structures will be fired – AMA boss

The Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, has said the Assembly will not tolerate officials who take bribes to permit the building of illegal structures in the metropolis.

The AMA boss stated that would-be property owners must secure building permits from the appropriate institutions in the national capital before putting up structures in the city.

According to Mr. Vanderpuije, the assembly has also taken steps to address delays associated with acquiring building permit in the national capital.

He was speaking at a ceremony to present communication materials to members of the Assembly on new policy guidelines on Accra’s building permit regime.

At the ceremony, Mr. Vanderpuije announced that applicants for building permits in the city will no longer wait for 90 days to know the outcome of their application. The waiting period has been reduced to 30 days.

“It is never a requirement for money to exchange hands. When money exchanges hands, then it means there will be no work done,” the Accra MCE said adding that officials found to have exchanged a permit for money will be fired.

“If there is no work done then we have to make sure that we make decisions against those individuals through whom money has exchanged hands. Anytime we have found any of our staff to have been involved with activities of this nature, we fire them.”

By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana