After the June 3rd disaster in the capital city, about 3 years down the lane, the indications are clear that flood situation in Accra has not improved much.
Monday night’s heavy rains brought in it wake another ravaging flood that swept the entire city resulting in several tragic developments.
Reports reaching Ahotoronline.com indicate that several mishaps have been recorded from several areas in Accra and the most devastating one among them is the loss of a female doctor who got submerged into the water and was swept away by the floods at Teshie along the Bush road around 9pm on yesterday.
Speaking to the member of Parliament for Ablekuma South constituency, and mayor of Accra in the erstwhile John Drammani Mahama administration, Hon Alfred Oko Vanderpuiye, on Ahotor morning show dubbed “Oman mu nsem” the former Mayor expressed worry and extreme frustration about the situation.
Noted for several decongession exercise during his reign, Mr Vandapuije recounted several measures the previous administration took to dealing with the situation.
The member of Parliament for Ablekuma South admitted that “recording flooding in Accra in 2018 is a clear indication of our failure as nation to do what we are supposed to do,l spoke about all the things happening now as a major then”
Mr. Vandapuije also recounted a number of floods recorded cases after taking office in 2009. According to him the situation prompted him to meet the then president Prof. Mills of blessed memory at Kwame Nkrumah circle where the latter questioned him about prudent steps to be taken to control the unending flood situation in the capital city.
According to him series of consultations were done to solicit opinion from various quarters’ including all former majors of the capital city and several recommendations were put forward which included the following ;
1. Consistent dredging of the Korle and Odawna Lagoon.
2. Rebuilding of the drainage systems in Accra to facilitate easy flow of water after heavy rains.
3. Rolling out of a comprehensive sanitation program to control refuse situation in Accra.
According to Mr Vandapuije, as part of the package they were going to supply each household with a dustbin, and also supply the necessary tracks to support waste management service providers and then construct a an engineered landfill site so that Accra for the first time would have a final waste disposal site.
All these he noted were put together into a package with a cost estimation of about $500million.
He said the previous government had an extensive consultation with US Exim bank to secure funding of $5 million which was subsequently approved by the then Parliament to build new drains, dredge choked gutters, build tunnels and bridges as well as distilling blocked tunnels. But according to him the loan facility with Exim Bank was unsuccessful because of Ghana’s suscription to the IMF compact.
On the way forward Hon. Oko Vandapuije insisted that the current administration must pursue the said amount which according to him is the only way we can deal with the situation once and for all, and cautioned that until we do that, mayors will come and go but the situation will remain same.
He revealed that he was very happy when the current Minister of Work and Housing Hon. Atta Akyea at his vetting in parliament admitted he’s privy to the plan left by the previous regime and admonished him to translate those cogent recommendations into concrete action.
He lamented on the deliberate building in waterways and bemoaned the lack of proper commitment and political will to crack the whip on these numerous and unlawful squatters due to the political backlash that the current government is likely to encounter from the public, and also cited the current situation at Sodom and Gomora, a suburb of Accra as a pathetic example of the development and suggested that, irrespective of our political interest we should pursue this comprehensive project to avert any eventual calamity likely to confront us going forward.
On his conclusion remark, the honorable member for Ablekuma South blamed the Npp
government for creating undue advantage for people to deliberately build in waterways. He said the short period of sacking of the MMDCE’s in the previous administration and their adhoc replacement created supervision crises in several areas allowing the people to build in waterways.
Ahotoronline.com/Ivan-Kyei Innocent
