A member of pressure group, Occupy Ghana, Sydney Casely Hayford has attributed the country’s inability to fix the issues of flooding on Ghanaians pretentious attitude.
Speaking on Citi FM’s new analysis programme The Big Issue on Saturday, Casely-Hayford said the country has not been able to solve the flooding issue since time immemorial because of the inability to come up with effective ways to solve the issue.
“What is wrong with us is what has always been wrong with us from day one. We are a pretending society, we pretend about everything. We pretend that we are doing things properly, we pretend that we have laws, we pretend that we have democracy, but when you go under the surface of it all, it is totally meaningless. It doesn’t really stack up,” he said.
Monday’s downpour and aftermath
[contextly_sidebar id=”53wirP3CCg8R3pEb0EfTkaOefHmbr9fM”]A downpour last Monday night left some parts of Accra flooded.
Ten people lost their lives and several properties were destroyed due.
Dozens of residents in some areas in Accra including Odawna near Circle were displaced after a torrential downpour that wreaked havoc.
Casely-Hayford on The Big Issue blamed the government for awarding contracts to companies who claimed they are dredging the various major drains in a bid to curb the flooding issue but to no avail.
“I know we are making a lot of noise; Ghana beyond aid and planting for food and jobs, the slogans are good and they are necessary but how do you take those slogans and make them actually work? I know contracts have been awarded to both foreign and local companies. All we have done is award bogus contract to get the work done that never get done, and we are not holding anybody responsible,” he said.
When the flooding occurred, the Ga Central Municipal Assembly said it is committed to the continuous dredging and construction of drains in the municipality to curb the impact of flooding during this rainy season.
According to the Assembly, with the onset of the rains, protecting properties and saving lives is crucial, hence the need to construct a lot more side drains.
New city needed
The National Organizer of the opposition National Democratic Congress NDC, Kofi Adams, had also suggested that there was a need to design another city outside of Accra to curb the perennial flooding the capital.
According to him, interventions by city authorities will not work because Accra is overpopulated.
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By: Farida Yusif/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
