Fire and water…we have been here before. In June 2015 we witnessed for the first time balls of fire on top of water spectacle which constituted one of Ghana’s most tragic occurrences in living memories.
That was the Circle disaster which claimed over a hundred lives compensation to which survivors remains outstanding, perhaps never to be advanced. A fuel station was on fire as the heavens opened for a major torrential downpour.
The downpour of last Monday also came with a fire outbreak at Odawna when plastic sales points were torched fire, which lasted several hours as the deluge lasted.
Our President’s tenures have always been touched with fire and water.
He was in charge when the country witnessed the Circle tragedy during which he characteristically denied responsibility as the man in charge of steering the ship of state.
He called for a clear action against the force majeure, the authority to do which lay with him as President and Commander-In-Chief.
He reneged on his pledge to do something about the perennial force majeure.
He also pointed at human irresponsible activities as being responsible for the floods in Accra. As President, he was unable to deal with the situation because he feared it would incur the wrath of Ghanaians who would accuse him of not showing a human face.
That itself is a poor testimonial because if that action in his estimation could address the challenge it should be carried out. Not doing so points at a weakness which the Commander-In-Chief should not exhibit.
He said we should not continue to be like the vulture which makes fresh promises of building proper shelter against the rains. When the rains end the promises are shelved for another raining season.
Given the unsolved challenge over the years of his tenure, our President has behaved like the vulture continuously dangling fresh promises about how to tackle the annual force majeure, but in the end, doing nothing.
When he was seeking the nods of Ghanaians to rule again, he made another promise in 2024 which is worthy of referring to at this time when the wounds of last Monday’s torrential downpour and a subsequent flooding continue to haunt victims like bad dreams.
He told us that a new NDC government would apply a scientific means of addressing the annual flooding of Accra.
That scientific approach could have been the Seven-Man Committee of Appointees to come up with a solution to the perennial flooding. We are in the middle of a fresh raining season and no scientific response has been witnessed apart from the committee whose action of significance has been a helicopter flyover in Accra as soon as it was inaugurated.
We are compelled to recall the prediction of Rev. Owusu Bempah, as it were, about rain and fire, should Ghanaians vote in a certain pattern. Against this backdrop can we say his prediction or warning has come to pass?
With the unlikelihood of the government doing anything significant to stop the destructive deluge we ask that NADMO and related first respondents are equipped and motivated through appropriate training to do more than they did during the deluge under review. Their support during the period was anything but significant and worthy of plaudits.
As victims of the deluge endured the inconveniences wreaked by the downpour many of them did not feel the presence of NADMO. Even when the gang of party footsoldiers showed up most of them lacked the wherewithal of managing flood situations. The best they could do was drive past in NADMO logo government vehicles.
As for a lasting solution to the perennial destructive deluges let the GARID project be revived and not kept under the carpet where it has continued to be since the change of governance baton.