RAINS AND FLOODS IN GHANA

                    

             

It has now become an annual ritual in Ghana that any time it rains heavily in most part in the country; there is flood which destroys lives and properties. Is it that we refuse to plan after the floods are gone or what? We have become vultures failing to build nest when the rains are gone. Regions like Greater Accra, Western, Eastern and Ashanti are noted for severe flooding when it should rain for two or more hours.

Who do we blame, is it the government who is supposes to make policies and construct proper drainage systems or the activities of the citizens in the country. On the side of government, the policies that government makes are not properly enforce on the citizenry thereby making the citizen to flout on the rules and regulations. It is a law that people should not build on water ways but what do we see, a lot of buildings have sprung up on water ways in most parts of the regions with policy makers on looking without proper sanctioning on the perpetrators.

Most of the drainages found in these regions were constructed about twenty to thirty years ago when the populations of these regions were smaller and therefore cannot contain the activities of the population that has doubled over the years. The drainage system constructed were open drainages which allows people to easily dump refuse into them.

Cleanliness is said to be next to Godliness, but as citizens, we have made it more like a slogan rather than living or practicing it. The daily rubbish we make in our various homes is found in open gutters which tend to block the water path and causes flooding. Plastic wastes are most of the time the dominant waste we make. The streets are littered with these rubbers which find their way into the open gutters.

The government should take the bull by the horn by pulling down all buildings on the water ways that affects lives and properties. Again, the government should stop constructing open drainages and small gutters but rather construct covered drainages which are bigger and better in situations like heavy rains.

The citizens should have proper way of disposing waste by being provided with dustbins at their various homes. Government should train more sanitary inspectors who would go round homes to make sure that their surroundings are clean and well kept. Offenders should be brought to book.

Finally, communal labour should be organized every fortnight at the various district assemblies to clean gutters and the surroundings.

  






By: Linda Abrefi Wadie