Heavy Rains Expose State of Accra’s Sanitation

The metrological departments had not anticipated its coming but heavy rains on Tuesday morning lashed some parts of the capital causing waterlogging, traffic jams and exposing the filth hidden in drainages.

The downpour which was the first in the year 2018, started at about 6 am and lasted a little over an hour, leaving several areas patched with puddles and ponds.

The question raised by a cross section of the public is that, “if an hour’s downpour could bring about puddles and ponds, what would be the result of a torrent that continues for days?”

THE PUBLISHER’S drive through some areas did not see the millions of shards that comes with heavy rainfall, but it presented to the paper a broken hope; the hope of seeing a ‘Ghana free from filth’ and the bane that comes with it, someday.

At Kaneshie lorry station for instance, the aftermath of the rain was so severe that commuters found it difficult to walk through the park.

According to Frank Lartey, a 30-year-old teacher who uses the Kaneshie road to work almost every day, “Kaneshie is a place where the government needs to attend to before something disastrous occurs.”

“Where to put my legs was a struggle because the park was really in a mess.”

At Kaneshie-First Light, the main street, and a busy road for that matter, had turned into a river and the flood had buried the wheels of the vehicles.

At Tesano, not too far from where the Ghana Telecom University, the rainwater pond was so large that “trotro” drivers had turned it into a washing bay where they could wash off the silt collected by their tyres.

Hopes Are Dashed

Speaking to THE PUBLISHER about the effect of the downpour in his area, The Korle-Gonno Stool Secretary, Ben Cofie says, “Korle-Gonno is minimal. Secondary drainage cleared a bit of rubber pollutants. However, all those pollutants are landing itself into the Korle lagoon and of course straight to the shores of the beaches.”

“I alerted the authorities 3 years ago that we are sitting on plastic wastes time bomb and they have for all these times done nothing,” he added.

Ben Cofie’s submission coupled with the grievances of others have shown that citizens are gradually losing hope in governments bid to fight challenges facing the sanitation, drainage and waste management sector.

“This is not rain; it’s just comedies, yet everywhere is flooded. Wait till the real movie starts…sanitation minister says he wasn’t appointed to sweep…when people start to die in the real movie, he will come to console,” Fuseini, 30 stated.

Government Is still confident

Government is however poised to fight the menace with its many reforms that would soon yield results.

Just last week, the President, Nana Akufo-Addo announced the release of $200 million to improve sanitation in the country.

Prior to that, government had also launched the $3million Integrated Urban Environmental Sanitation Master Plan (IUESMP), to complement existing strategies in the sanitation, drainage and water management sub-sectors.

By: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/ [email protected]