Insanity is cleverly defined as; doing the same thing every time and expecting a different outcome—that’s what happens in Accra and with most Ghanaians.
Accra, the capital of Ghana has been flooding since the 1980s and perhaps even way back, and each year we are served with the usual political theatre, that it’s the last and we would never seen floods again.
Interestingly, Accra is blessed, maybe I should say cursed with the Best Mayor of Africa being in charge and yet, the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Alfred Oko Vanderpuije is unable to do that one thing which will give residents of Accra a deserving peace of mind during the raining season.
Last year, on this same issue, I pointed out the irony in the mayor of the annual flood zone-Accra having been declared the 2015 Best Mayor of Africa when I wrote;
“How the Mayor of a City which is not just prone to flood because of bad planning and management but experiences flood each year that kills hundreds of people was honoured recently as the Best African Mayor is beyond my understanding—a lot of complex but dumb mathematics must have gone into this.
Interestingly, the Mayor prides himself with this award and financed by the taxpayer, he travelled to Angola, slept in a posh hotel and probably drunk bottles of fine wine to accept this empty award. The manifestation of the award is what we are witnessing today—a city flooded like a bathtub, killing innocent dwellers; children, women and men.
Perhaps, it goes beyond the mark of irony, it exposes our deep seated idiocy and far acceptance of mediocrity. Why award the man in charge of a city that flooded in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and now 2015—with people dying each time it happens?”
Beyond the quarters of the man who is in charge of Accra, president- John Dramani Mahama after 2014’s Accra flood said; “I have directed the Finance Minister to release funds immediately for construction of storm drains in Accra. There will be no flooding in Accra again.”
Yet, there was flooding in 2015 which led to over 100 people dying in the June 3 disaster, and this year, it has ‘pleasantly’ returned.
Two years ago, GhanaCelebrities.Com Senior Staff Writer-Godwin Nii-Armah wrote an op-ed on the the 2014 Accra flood, saying;
It’s been raining in Accra all day, which has led to the occasional flooding issue that plagues Accra rearing its ugly head again. It’s been in the news all day, people whose settlements have flooded and have lost property and several other valuables.
Luckily this time, it has not claimed a life yet; but what it has done is put the media focus back on the issue, which in turn puts more pressure on the politicians who then have to make a kind of grandstand to prove how on top of issues they are.
The problem is, and this is why I started with the analogy I used; this happens every single year. The floods come, it claims lives and properties, draws media attention, politicians make some kind of gesture to show how they’re taking the issue seriously; and then it all goes away when the rain stops. Then all you have to do is what for the next round of heavy rains to hit the city and start the cycle up all over again.
We go through this every year because a lasting solution is never found for the situation, but rather quick fixes that cause more harm in the long run. Accra as a city is built wrong, several settlements are poorly planned, and the laissez-faire attitude of those in charge means people get to do whatever they want, build wherever they want.
And that is the root cause of this flooding issue. Several people have built on waterways, whilst in some cases whole towns are erected on a waterway. This constricts the movement of water and leads to the flooding that engulfs these settlements.
But we never attempt to find a permanent fix to this problem. Fixing the problem of flooding would require a commitment and political will to an operation that would take years to solve. The poor drainage system must be fixed, dumping of physical waste in gutters and other water ways must be fixed, and most importantly houses and towns blocking the flow of water must be razed down.
No government is going to sacrifice the time, resources, and political capital to attempt this fix; because as much as we suffer from the flooding, people are not ready to see their houses torn down. And the first two would require as much will on the part of the people as on the part of government. The government would prefer to stay in the good graces of the electorate by not demolishing their houses, and people would continue to build wherever they can without permits as long as the government does not stop them.
The annual floods in Accra is just a small percentage of the unending chaos the entire country-Ghana faces—so frustrating that a bunch of my friends are actually looking for whatever available route to evaporate from the cooking pot.
One recently said; “ending up anywhere in Europe is my dream, even if it’s Poland.”
To be frank, I perfectly understand and agree with them—you wouldn’t appreciate the degree of anguish these people face, especially those who continue to lose their properties, friends and family to the yearly floods if you’ve never been a victim.
It just doesn’t suck to work throughout the year, manage to buy a flat screen television and have the erratic power supply damage it. And if you are lucky to escape that, the floods would certainly rise from the floor to the ceiling of your room, with your television swimming in there like a fish.
It has been raining in Accra and the images you see above should give you a fair idea of the state of the capital.