Accra Floods: We are fed up

Accra can now withstand floods as the Odaw and the Korle Lagoons have been dredged – Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, Mayor of Accra, 3rd June, 2016.

Earlier on Thursday, June 5, 2014, President Mahama issued strict instructions for the Ministry of Finance to release funds for the immediate construction of a drainage system in flood prone areas in the capital.

Six days after the propaganda from the Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the nation’s capital suffered a major destructive flood which cost runs into several millions of cedis.

It is instructive that the flood came a few days after the anniversary of the last killer flood in which over a hundred persons lost their lives.

We are saddened that the city continues to suffer such avoidable floods, even as politicians make untenable promises.

We have commented for the umpteenth time about the near state of hopelessness the residents of Accra are entrapped in.

Accra, in spite of the so-called dredging of the Odaw and Korle Lagoons, cannot withstand four hours of uninterrupted downpour. We do not have confidence in the system which pays more attention to sympathising with flood victims than embarking on projects which can obviate such calamities.

It is our prayer that Accra does not suffer another major downpour that could visit uncontrollable flooding on the city.

. What kind of engineering went into the drainage construction in some parts of the city, including the roads, that when it rains residents sit on tenterhooks not knowing what lies ahead?

So what significant work was done on the Odaw and the Korle Lagoons that we were pounded with so much propaganda about an unprecedented desilting by the authorities?

They have been exposed who used their shoddy work to throw dust into the eyes of the residents of Accra and expected them to clap hands for them. The downpour of yesterday has exposed those who continue to short-change the people of this country.

It is our position, and we would defend it to the hilt, that important issues of state, including urban management, have not attracted the deserved attention and commitment of the authorities. The result is what continues to befall us when there is a major downpour.

How can the flooding of critical roads in the city be explained in the light of what Accra witnessed yesterday? We await the next set of propaganda and mendacious remarks from the relevant authorities as the sky is cleared of rain-bearing clouds.

Are they going to announce strict orders to the finance ministry to release funds for the construction of drains to obviate future floods?

We have been pushed to the wall and can no longer bear this recklessness and toying with the lives of the citizens of this country, especially Accra.

Today and the subsequent days, the politicians from the ruling party would go round with promises and doling of sugar and other items. God save this country.