Ghana’s infrastructural resilience has once again failed the test as heavy downpours hit Kumasi and Accra last week. H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of Ghana, once said “when the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate will expose you”. Juxtaposing this to the current situation, one may not be wrong to also say when the infrastructure is weak, the rains will expose you.
The occurrence of floods has been an annual ritual in Ghana over the years. And each year, politicians make pledges to address the situation. But, just like the vulture, Ghana never seem to find an antidote to this menace.
Accra experienced heavy downpour that lasted for about five hours on Saturday, June 26, 2021. This resulted in the flooding of most parts of the capital city. Areas such as Airport residential, Okponglo, Shiashi, Spintex, and Haatso were all flooded leading to heavy vehicular traffic on Saturday evening.
This comes barely two days after Kumasi and other areas of the Ashanti Region experienced heavy rains for two consecutive days. This resulted in floods that destroyed properties running into millions of Cedis, especially as the newly-built Kejetia Market also got flooded. So far, reports indicate that two persons have lost their lives after the heavy rains in Kumasi.
The central business district of Adum and other areas in Kumasi such as Anloga Junction, Dagomba Line, KNUST and Airport Roundabout were all submerged in floods.
Sadly, this is the second time the market is experiencing such floods. Several questions beg for answers as to how a newly-built Market will continue to experience floods. Was the market cited at the right place? Are there proper drainage systems? What is the general attitude of traders towards waste management and disposal in the market?
Possible causes of floods
Whilst the occurrence of flood is a natural phenomenon, its impact can be minimized through proper human attitudes. In Ghana, most of the roads become submerged and unmotorable with the slightest rain because some of the drainage systems are poorly constructed. Most of them are very narrow to allow the flow of the run-off water. With this, governmental agencies that are responsible for approving road projects are to be blamed.
Nevertheless, any debate on the causes of floods will be bias and inconclusive without the mention of the sense of responsibility of citizens. Generally, bad attitudes towards waste disposal and deliberate disregard to sanitation laws coupled with illegal issuance of building permits are major contributory factors. Moreover, markets are sometimes prone to floods due to certain activities of traders such as dumping of waste and rotten food items on waterways.
Meanwhile, reacting to the recent floods in Kumasi, a former Ghana Ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ohene Agyekum, blamed the flooding situation on bad attitudes of citizens and irresponsibility on the part of politicians. According to Mr. Agyekum, “everyone is sleeping; including politicians and residents”.
Economic impacts of floods
Generally, floods cause huge losses to the country each year due to loss of lives, properties and displacement of people. Estimates from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) show that Ghana loses $200 million annually due to floods and droughts.
Ms. Katrina Mouakkid Soltesova, the Program Management Officer of Risk Knowledge at UNISDR Regional Office for Africa cited the services sector as the worst affected.
“Still looking at flood related losses, the highest, in absolute terms, are predicted for the service sector, accounting for 35 million US dollars. It is followed closely by the housing and transportation sectors”.
Katrina Mouakkid Soltesova
On June 3, 2015, Ghana experienced one of its worst natural disasters after a heavy downpour that led to flooding in Accra was exacerbated by a fuel station explosion at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. This left an estimated 154 Ghanaians dead with scores sustaining varying degrees of burns and injuries. As a result, the government set up a committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the disaster.
“Five houses including the Goil Filling Station suffered various degrees of damage as a result of the fire. The properties are valued at GHS1,658,847 (over $428,000)”, the committee revealed.
Also, the flooding of roads which often cause vehicular traffic result in loss of productive working hours as well as business opportunities.
Government’s reactions
Interestingly, the government also claims to be doing its best in terms of investment in flood mitigation measures. On Sunday, 27 June 2021, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Francis Assenso Boakye, revealed that the government has invested a total of GH₵450 million in flood mitigation measures in the past four years.
According to him, the government is committed to mitigating flooding and, thus, rolled out several interventions to increase awareness to prevent the perennial flooding in the country. But, still the question remains: has government efforts yielded any results so far?
It is high time Ghana got serious with rolling out good policies to address the perennial flooding in the country. We cannot continue to brood over the same problem that causes so much damage to the lives and livelihoods of Ghanaians. Whilst the politicians have a role to play, it also calls for a sense of responsibility on the part of the citizens. Enforcement of sanitation laws, avoidance of building on water ways and other untheorized places will be of tremendous help.
This is because, the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMA) is forecasting more rains to hit Ghana’s major cities such as Accra, Takoradi, Tema and Kumasi this year. Accra Accra
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