Govt inaction cause of floods

Pg. 29 (metro) Friday May 16/08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

RESIDENTS in some flood-prone areas in Accra have expressed misgivings at the government’s inaction to expand water courses in their communities to avoid flooding.
According to the residents, mostly in Kwashie-Bu and Old Fadama, buildings have been constructed on most of the water courses by individuals and some estate developers, thereby forcing into their homes water which would have conveniently passed through the water courses.
The residents told the Daily Graphic that last year, after a major flooding due to a heavy downpour which caused a major havoc to people’s homes and also resulted in a number of deaths, government officials, including the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, visited some affected areas in Kwashie-Bu, where they assured the residents that the problem would be solved through the expansion of the Lafa river by demolishing structures which were situated in the water courses.
However, the conditions that caused last year’s flooding in the two communities still persist, despite the onset of this year’s rains.
A resident at Kwashie-Bu, Alhaji Razak Lawal, said nothing had been done to ease their plight since last year’s disaster and said residents were living in fear that this year a similar situation could happen, since the structures which caused the flooding were still in the water courses.
According to Alhaji Lawal, the Lafa river, which runs from Aburi and passes through the Kwashie-Bu community, normally overflows its banks because people have encroached on it by building their houses close to it, thereby preventing it from having a free flow whenever there is a heavy downpour and over-flow.
He said he had personally written letters to petition officials, including the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Shiek I. C. Quaye, the Member of Parliament for the area, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway and the District Chief Executive for Ga West, Mr Brosby Quartey-Papafio, but all to no avail.
He said although residents in the area paid property rate to the Assembly, they did not have amenities such as good access roads, gutters or drains, making life difficult for them.
Within the same suburb, some residents were seen busily clearing silt from gutters around their homes, while others were re-inforcing their walls to prevent them from collapsing.
At Old Fadama, residents had similar complaints that after last year’s havoc, which caused the death of one person, nothing had been done to avert similar situations in the area this year.
The most affected area at Old Fadama is the Number 20 Binaba Lane, where residents live close to a big drain that runs through the community to Tesano. Whenever the drain gets full during a heavy downpour, the area gets flooded.
Three Zoomlion Waste Management workers who were spotted working in the area complained about the heaps of debris that collect on the streets after any rainfall. They said they reported for work on Wednesday morning only to see heaps of debris, which have been washed onto the streets from the drain after Wednesday night rain.
They complained that people within the community had been dumping their refuse in the drain and this, according to them, was one of the major causes of the perennial flooding in the area.