Last Friday, the heavens opened again and the rains poured in torrents, flooding some parts of the city of Accra.
Reports also speak of flooding in parts of the Garden City of Kumasi. Heavy rains rendering low lying areas of Accra flooded has become a perennial challenge confronting statutory bodies like the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
Many factors account for flooding in most parts of the country including climate change, indiscriminate locating of buildings and other structures and the dumping of refuse in open drains. The flood waters leave in their trail spectacles that are not pleasing to the eye. The reference points in any discussions have been the once vibrant aquatic life in the Odaw River and the Korle Lagoon.
River Odaw that flows into the Korle Lagoon, once upon a time, provided livelihood to some fishermen at Adabraka and other communities along the river course.
Central and local authorities have major roles to play to sanitise the environment to the extent that our communities would be devoid of indiscriminate littering of garbage in open spaces on the blind side of the law.
However, nation building is a shared responsibility because the citizens have an obligation to ensuring climate justice. That is why in some jurisdictions, the citizens are asked before they dump under the policy of polluter pays.
This works to some extent in as far as the “borla man” is at the refuse dump to guide those who want to dump, otherwise the garbage is dumped without any regulations. On some occasions, parents send their children who do contrary to the rules. Again, as part of keeping our cities and other communities clean, the refuse management companies and the MMDAs allowed the use of tricycles by “borla boys” to collect garbage for dumping at transfer stations, but these “borla boys” drop their “load” indiscriminately, fuelling the filth in the city.
The Environmental Service Providers Association (ESPA) have lost the plot and strategy for which the idea was mooted, as the “borla boys” work independent of any central control.
We need action on a national scale to keep our environment very wholesome for our well-being.
It is not a period for blame-game.
We have every right as citizens but not spectators to draw attention to some of the failures in public policies and join hands to fix them.
For three days, a group of young people buoyed by some elements in the opposition NDC took over the road from the 37 Military Hospital to Jubilee House to protest against what they called government policy failures to address the difficulties of our times including filth in the city, especially after floods like what happened last Friday.
We don’t begrudge the youth for the path they chose to bring the government’s attention to the current woes in the country.
We worry, however, about their decision to take over such a busy road to vent their frustration, thereby causing pain to other citizens.
If for whatever reason and possibly to score political point, they decide to demonstrate, they must understand that the right to free assembly is not absolute.
While on this issue of ensuring clean Accra and other cities, we recall the pledge President Akufo-Addo made in 2017, to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa, and demand from the new Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Dr. Freda Prempeh whether that pledge would come into fruition within the tenure of our President.
Also, we urge all waste management companies led by Zoomlion to intensify their support for the government to make our environment free from filth, while the MMDAs deliver on their mandate to stop indiscriminate building of houses on water courses to minimise flooding, if not eliminate it completely, and their impact on livelihoods. It is for this reason that we urge the youth to play a part in nation-building but not unnecessary agitations.
Our government too has a duty to design all inclusive policies that would take into account the needs of all. That is the spirit of our democracy that enjoins us to make sure that “what affects all must be decided by all.”