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Preventing Accra’s floods will fundamentally require a shift in attitudes by citizens, a former Provost of the College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof Opuni Asiamah, has disclosed.

The capital was hit by another flood that submerged most suburbs on Thursday June 9, 2016, a year after a similar inundation caused the death of close to 160 people.

Prof Asiamah, who outlined a number of measures that needed to be undertaken if the country was to see the back of what has become a customary annual disaster, said attitudinal change on the part of people would be a “basic” premise toward reversing the trend.

“There is no substitute for it. Our attitudes are bad, but attitudinal change takes time, it takes a long time. [But] we don’t have the luxury of time, so we can’t wait,” he suggested to show host Chief Jerry Forson on Friday June 10.

He condemned the tendency of some Ghanaians to litter the environment and to dispose of rubbish in drains once the rains set in, saying people would need to fix their attitudes towards the nation, planning, and environment if things were to change.

Admitting that such a change in attitudes takes “generations” to get instilled, Prof Asiamah insisted that it was a necessary first step for the country to make, with the need to target the young.

“We should begin right from the classrooms to teach these children to do the right things and I think that the onus lies on us, the Ministry of Education, everybody,” he offered.

The lecturer regretted that institutions tasked with ensuring compliance with laws on sanitation had neglected their duties, a situation that had led to a disregard for such legislation. He was certain that if such bodies were to enforce the laws and cause the arrest and prosecution of litterbugs, others would take a leaf from it and reform.

“The institutions must begin to bite now so that…you and I change our attitudes towards some of these things,” he stated.