Floods still a big deal

Earlier last week, some parts of Accra were heavily flooded after what seemed like a harmless rainfall.

While Accra has had various flood prone areas in the past, it seems over the years the entire city is becoming practically unlivable with flash floods becoming regular than exception.

Indeed, the usual refrain that people have built on waterways hence the floods is no longer enough – that is not to discount that particular cause.

What has become more evident is that we can no longer as a people settle for the low hanging fruit in our quest to, first of all, understand the mess we find ourselves as well as come up with solutions to deal with same.

It is a fact that thousands of people may have died through these floods and properties worth billions of cedis may have been lost to these floods. However, the lack of a comprehensive multi-stakeholder approach to tackle these floods mean that the worst is probably yet to come.

As much as government owes it a duty to a large extent to make our cities livable by taking measure to preventt these rampant floods, the citizens which suffer the most – in the interim – must own their space and do everything possible to stop these disasters from happening or minimize their effects.

Policy makers and elected officials have slept on what needs to be done to address these floods for far too long. As if by a conspiracy of nature, we are seeing these floods close to the election day which should nudge them to action if they have any conscience at all.

The havoc wreaked by these floods would be fresh on the minds of the electorates and should at least push them to holding those who have power or are seeking power to make firm commitment on dealing with this menace.

If we continue to play ostrich, we will not only have our fingers burnt but our faces as well as the disaster which looms cannot be overestimated.