Last Wednesday’s torrential rains which submerged parts of the city of Accra and the subsequent fire incident that occurred at the Goil filling station near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle which left over hundred people dead will go down the history of Ghana as the worse disaster that has struck the country in many years.
Many Ghanaians who are enraged at the lip service and empty promises of policy makers and successive governments to end the annual ritual of floods in the city have called on authorities to walk the talk.
Although the President John Dramani Mahama has served notice, he would do all in his power to end the problem, many have received his promise with skepticism as many such promises end with the tours they embark on in similar situations each year.
Two days of rain in the national capital ones again exposed the poor drainage system and poor sanitation in the city, but most devastating is the fire that ravaged the fuel station at the Kwame Nukrumah Circle that left nearly a hundred people dead.
The Goil filling station was a sight of horror Wednesday morning as burnt bodies litter the venue which once served the fuel needs of many motorists in the city.
Charred bodies were locked in nearby drains with others still on their seats at the pump, burnt to the scull.
Passersby look on in grief at the destruction of lives by the fire that devoured people who had sought refuge at the filling station.
Rescue officers pile up bodies in trucks with their blood draining as though they were bodies recovered from a war zone.
Mothers wail over the body of their drown children while many other communities discover the bodies of their neigbours in nearby drains.
Many households were on Wednesday morning busy scooping water from their rooms and trying what they can salvage from the floods that kept many seeking refuse on roof tops.
Evidence of the destruction of the rains was almost visible in drains, homes and on streets in the city.
Each year, successive governments commensurate with flood victim and make promises to devote funds to complete projects to end the perennial floods in the city but never see those projects through.
Yesterday the President John Dramani Mahama who visited the accident site and other flood ravaged areas in the city was resolute to put words to action to end the flooding in the city.
“We must sit down and strategies to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” President Mahama assured
The President noted that although measure to end the situation would be drastic, he asked for the support of all to make the city safe in times of rains.
“We have to take some measures to avoid this in the future. Often when these measures are drastic, you have a lot of sympathy and pressure not to take these measures. But I think the time has come for us to move houses out of the waterways. The public should understand that it is necessary to take such measures to save everybody else.” the President stated
Dark moment in our history
The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo -Addo has also described the floods and the fire incident as a major tragedy that should not be allowed to repeat itself.
The 2016 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, who on Thursday, toured some parts of the city and witnessed at first-hand the devastation caused to life and property described the incident as a "major tragedy for Accra" and a "very bad day" for Ghana.
Addressing the media, Nana Akufo-Addo said “our first focus should be to come to the aid of those affected by the tragedy, and subsequently examine what needs to be done to ensure that such things do not happen ever again.”
He noted that “these are trying moments for the families affected and I urge them to remain strong and continue to renew their faith in the Almighty. I came here, on behalf of the NPP and on my own behalf, to extend our condolence and deepest sympathies to all who have been affected by this horrendous tragedy. It is a dark day in the history of our capital, and all of us should pull together.”
Nana Akufo-Addo maintained that after those who have been displaced and affected by the floods are attended to, “we will have to look into this situation which affects us every year. We have to find out if measures that were supposed to have been put in place to forestall this occurrence were or were not put in place. If not, we must make sure that they are put in place so that we don’t go through this again in future. We have to find a lasting solution to this problem of perennial flooding.”
Weak-kneed leadership
The Founder of the Progressive People’s party (PPP), Paa Kwesi Nduom in the wake of the incident also charged the President to show leadership in the circumstance and fix the problem.
To him, the fact that successive governments have not been able to take those critical measures to end the problem points to “weak-kneed leadership”
“Good leaders solve problems, fix what is broken. And sympathy? What is sympathy when you are dead or your business is destroyed? I am ready to support concrete, specific, needed action to solve the problem. All I ask is for the President to lead from the front.”, he noted
According to him, “ following floods in Accra last year, some of my businesses lost valuable, expensive equipment and stock meant for sale. We built new drainage systems, built new walls, fortified our warehouse, etc. Once again, due to the recent rains, all our individual investment have gone to waste because the water way near us at Avenor burst its banks. If government does not fix the public water way, what we do as private people and businesses will not work”
More rains expected
Meanwhile the Ghana Meteorological Service has served notice that Ghanaians should brace themselves for more intense from now till the second week of June.
Director General of the Ghana Meteorological Service Group Captain Komla speaking on the Citi fm on Wednesday said that the rainy trend will continue for the next two days and perhaps extend into the second week of June.
“It is expected that the Southern part of the country will definitely experience some more heavy rains today,” he stated
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