Could Friday’s floods in Accra have been prevented by the dredging of the Odaw River
On Friday, October 9, 2015 floods caused havoc once again in Accra after two hours of continuous rain in the morning.
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The rains, had come down the previous night, so a second day of rainfall raised the volume of water in the drains and was still finding a way to move.
Accra’s high water table could also not take in more runoff water, so the additional volume of water resulted in floods that marooned people in their homes.
Coming just four months after the country’s worst flood calamity that claimed over 150 lives, the flooding of parts of Accra took many by surprise.
The shock stemmed from the fact that the government seemed to have put in some measures to stem a repeat of the June 3 twin disaster of floods and fire that shook the country.
Measures taken so far
Among the steps taken by the government to minimise and subsequently prevent flooding of the capital city of Ghana was the setting up of a five-member committee to probe the cause of the fire at the Goil fuel station at Adabraka.
Having found out that the fire at the fuel station was caused by a lit cigarette and leaking underground tanks, the government embarked on a demolition of unauthorised and poorly sited fuel stations in some parts of the country, which drew an uproar from citizens because of the adhoc manner in which it was carried out.
It was as a result of public outcry on the siting of fuel stations that the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Mr Mahama Ayariga, when he took his turn at the Meet The Press series organised by the Ministry of Information, stated that fuel stations could be sited anywhere, provided the specific directives given to the developers were followed through.
He said: “It is possible for you to site fuel stations anywhere. It’s a question of what measures you have put in place to make sure that you address all the health and safety issues.”
One of the major steps taken so far to control the overflow of the Odaw River, to prevent further flooding of the area, is the dredging of the heavily silted Odaw, as recommended by the committee, by Engineers and Planners to allow free flow of water into the Korle and into the sea.
Despite the furore over the demolition of structures on water courses and along the Odaw River, as well as the ejection of thousands of squatters by city authorities, many people hailed the bold move by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA). In fact, it was the clearing of structures along the Odaw River that gave Engineers and Planners easy access to dredge some of the heavily silted portions of the Odaw River canal.
Terminated dredging
Notwithstanding the measured success of the dredging exercise, it was terminated midstream as a result of the politicisation of the exercise.
Even after the Chief Executive of Engineers and Planners, Mr Ibrahim Mahama, had decided to end the exercise because of the complaints about the fact that he had been given equipment belonging to the state to work with, some are still asking that he be made to pay for the equipment,.which he has since returned.
Those arguments have discounted the fact that Mr Mahama, a civil engineer, voluntarily offered his services to the state when it asked for assistance from Ghanaians with the needed expertise to dredge the Odaw canal, which investigations showed had largely contributed to the disastrous floods of June 3.
The political bickering has arisen because Mr Mahama is incidentally President John Mahama’s brother and the arguments are that the state equipment that were meant for the MMDAs were released to him because of that relationship.
The side of the debate that has been neglected though is whether indeed Mr Mahama had the required competence to dredge the Odaw River canal and whether he did a good job while he was at it.
Nonetheless, since Mr Mahama stopped the dredging and returned the equipment because of the unbearable noise from political opponents, there has been no further attempt to continue the work, although he suggested that the government should formally contract somebody to continue and finish the work.
Way forward
While much attention has been focused on the dredging of the Odaw canal, it must be stated that that is not the only cause of flooding in the Accra metropolis.
The drainage system for most streets is so poorly done that the slightest drizzle results in pools of water. No wonder minutes or few hours of rain always result in flooding.
We need our road engineers to have a relook at the small culverts on the streets that are supposed to take up runoff water.
We also need to step up both education and the enforcement of sanitation bye-laws because inconsiderate people still throw rubbish around indiscriminately onto the streets, into the drains and some even maliciously push their rubbish into the street culverts meant to drain water from the streets.
Recommendations of the fire disaster committee, including banning the use of plastics as carrier bags, water dispensers and cooked food containers, as well as standardised training, certification and licensing of fuel station attendants, the creation of sanitation police, compulsory fitting of all commercial vehicles with refuse baskets or bins should be adhered to.
Also, when it comes to awarding contracts for road projects and other works that would help us deal decisively with the perennial floods, we need to first look at competence and not the contractor’s affiliation, otherwise we would not get anything done and floods would continue to be a part of us, claiming lives and destroying property worth billions of cedis.
Writer’s email: [email protected]