Another rainy season, another flooding debacle.
August institutions, including the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) and the Daily Graphic, demand action to stop the recurring crisis.
Yet, such demands risk being no more than a ritualistic, albeit well-meaning, response to flooding: calls for prompt action from both citizens and the government to stop the malign impact of floods. Yet, nothing, it seems, is done: instead, things get worse.
A recent Daily Graphic editorial (June 27, 2026) itemises the reasons for the flooding devastation.
First, drainage channels are blocked with plastic water sachets, polythene bags, and household refuse.
Many people appear to believe that dumping trash in drains is a cost- and trouble-free way to dispose of personal litter: it is not; it contributes heavily to floods, and those who suffer are by and large the very people who dump their refuse on the street and down the drains.
The second factor is what the Daily Graphic editorial refers to as ‘planning indiscipline’.
This is a reference to the fact that numerous buildings have been erected on waterways in Ramsar wetlands and across natural floodplains.
These structures block the free flow of water and put families directly in harm’s way.
The GPCC’s call for the government to ‘strictly enforce the law without fear or favour’ is welcome – but it should not take a prominent civil society organisation or a leading media voice to encourage the government to act decisively.
What Ghana needs, the GPCC adds, is ‘continuous unyielding enforcement of [government] plans’ so the ‘first drop of rain’ does not trigger a chain reaction to catastrophic flooding.
Worsening floods
Citizens need to think before they throw things away: the consequences are bad and getting worse.
So, stop doing it! But what about the role of the government and local authorities?
Why is so little done of consequence to address the annual flooding debacle?
There are four main reasons why successive governments do not take decisive action to deal with Ghana’s perennial flooding crisis: lack of political will, severe regulatory and engineering failures, bureaucratic funding delays, and failure to change public indiscipline regarding waste management.
As a result, despite recurring national promises and catastrophic losses and damage from flooding, Ghana is stuck in a cycle of reactive disaster response when what is needed is prompt and effective proactive mitigation.
Political inertia
Why is there such political inertia and policy discontinuity?
Governments fear a backlash at the ballot box if they seek to enforce building laws which necessitate the demolition of illegal high-value properties and informal settlements constructed on waterways.
As a result, politicians do not take enforcement campaigns seriously, fearing the loss of votes and/or facing immense public and social pushback.
There are also transition disruptions: Presidential and administration changes heavily disrupt long-term continuity. For instance, critical disaster initiatives, such as the deployment of flood-risk insurance frameworks, face immense policy friction and delays following political regime changes.
Bureaucratic delays
Bureaucratic delays and structural failures are a second set of factors.
There are stalled aid projects when massive international funding fails to translate into physical defences against flooding.
A prime example is the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development project, backed by a $350 million World Bank credit facility.
Its implementation has stalled due to overlapping institutional mandates, administrative delays, and precious little progress on key drainage markers.
Things are not helped by institutional fragmentation.
Responsibility for flood mitigation is not centralised but distributed across the Ministry of Works and Housing, local municipal assemblies, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Disaster Management Organisation.
Institutional divisions result in poor information sharing, institutional finger-pointing, and a lack of centralised accountability.
Compromised Urban Planning
The role of compromised urban planning and wetland encroachment also worsens the flooding crisis.
Corruption and weak enforcement allow developers to secure building permits or bypass them entirely to construct residential and commercial properties directly on floodplains and natural water retention pathways.
Critical ecological safeguards, such as the Sakumo Ramsar site, river beds, and marshlands (such as the areas around Villagio and the Odaw corridor), are systematically paved over, leaving heavy rain runoffs without natural soils or lagoons to flow into, turning routine downpours into urban deluges.
What is to be done?
First, educate citizens not to drop their trash in the streets.
Second, revise flood prevention measures so that they are fit for purpose.
This is not rocket science: it is a necessary step to make a better quality of life.
Civil society: demand that the government steps up to the mark!
The writer is Emeritus Professor of Politics, London Metropolitan University, UK.
