The rains started late yesterday and rained throughout the night. In certain parts of Accra, it rained till 5:30 this morning. While on my way to work, the presenter on the radio was reporting series of floods around town. I got to Circle around 7:30am. Almost everybody was walking; cars could not move. Water everywhere. I walked to the Odawna river, to the portion that runs under the bridge at Circle. I arrived some minutes after our president had left the place. People standing by told me four dead bodies that were being washed away had been picked up by the NADMO officials. I took these shots.
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| The small entrance to the Neoplan station destroyed |
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| Sides of the bridge destroyed; people standing and watching as waste and dead animal bodies float |
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| One side of the bridge completely broken down |
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| The Odawna overflowed the side walls. This was taken after the water level had subsided considerably |
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| Waste and waste and everywhere |
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| This huge pile of waste must have contributed to the blockage under the bridge, causing the water overflow the walls |
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| People searching through the pile of rubbish for phones and other goodies washed away |
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| Scenes like this call for a pragmatic approach the the plastic menace which has plagued this country |
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| All the kiosks here (which were lined up along the wall) have been washed away. Only the urinal (cemented into the ground) remained |
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| Dirty, muddy water bringing in more waste |
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| Waste stuck under the bridge |
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| The main Circle trotro station, completely abandoned. This is after the water level had gone down |
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| Earlier in the morning, people were paying GHS1.00 to be carted across the water on peoples' backs around the Neoplan Station |
This wreck and havoc occurs annually, and will continue to occur if we do not change our attitudes toward the environment. I'm sure the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has by-laws regulating the dumping of refuse, but what happens to enforcement. People, shops and households keep dumping all sort of waste materials into the gutters and smaller streams that flow into the Odawna. Attitude, attitude, attitude, is everything.
Our elders say when you are advising the cat, don't forget to also advise the fish. I entreat our leaders to stop politicising everything in this country. Atta-Mills is touring the flooded areas, for what? To show solidarity as the leader of the country? Get the engineering and planning experts to implement good waste management policies and city plans, not politicians who don't know anything. Stop awarding contracts to contractors whom you know will provide the kickbacks. They cut down cost to pay the kickback and do shoddy work.
Let's change our #attitudes, get #green and protect Ghana's #environment.
