Ghana's persistent flooding crisis stems from leadership failure – Kofi Bentil

Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has argued that Ghana's persistent flooding and poor sanitation are the result of weak leadership rather than inadequate funding.

He maintains that the country already has the resources but lacks the political will to implement the engineering solutions needed to address the problem.

Speaking on JoyNews' Newsfile on Saturday, July 11, 2026, the senior lawyer said successive governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on drainage and flood mitigation projects, yet communities continue to experience flooding after every heavy downpour.

According to him, the crisis will not be solved through clean-up campaigns or public displays of concern but requires leaders who are willing to design and implement proper engineering solutions.

"Money is not our problem when it comes to sanitation. Our problem is lazy leaders who refuse to do the heavy thinking because sanitation is an engineering challenge," he said.

Bentil traced his concerns back to his own experience. Around 2000, while working at Enterprise Insurance and commuting daily along the Korle Bu–High Street route, he witnessed the government spend about $35 million dredging the Korle Lagoon to help curb flooding in Accra.

Even then, he said, his background in geography convinced him the intervention would not provide a lasting solution.

According to him, government spending on flood mitigation has since risen to about $300 million when the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project is taken into account.

Despite the significant investment, he noted, flooding persists, demonstrating that the problem is not a lack of funding but poor planning and execution.

Bentil argued that sanitation and flood control are fundamentally engineering challenges and should be addressed through rigorous planning, scientific analysis and permanent solutions rather than reactive interventions after disasters.

"Our problem is lazy leaders who refuse to do the heavy thinking because sanitation is an engineering challenge," he reiterated.

He also criticised the response of some public officials to the recent floods, accusing them of prioritising optics over meaningful action.

"Yesterday, most of our leaders went to just take pictures. Our leaders don't want to do the heavy lifting, the hard work of thinking through and solving it," he said.

Bentil added that such visits often appear to be more about public relations than implementing lasting solutions.

DR/MA