{"id":125812,"date":"2015-06-18T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T06:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=125812"},"modified":"2015-06-18T06:05:50","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T06:05:50","slug":"god-will-not-save-accra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/06\/god-will-not-save-accra\/","title":{"rendered":"God will not save Accra"},"content":{"rendered":"
Today marks exactly two weeks since over 200 people were killed in floods that ravaged Accra and a disastrous\u00a0 fire outbreak \u00a0at a fuel station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle. Most of the people who died in the fire were seeking shelter at the fuel station during a six-hour downpour which rendered large parts of the city inaccessible. Scores were swept away in the rising flood waters. Hundreds lost everything they own on that day.<\/p>\n
In the immediate aftermath of the June 3 flooding, every Ghanaian was affected and afflicted by the awful, awful way these people died. It\u2019s all we have talked about since that horrible Wednesday night. We were concerned and angry about the mess that caused the flooding.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n There was what the writer, Nana Awere Damoah calls the \u2018official walkabouts\u2019. Those in government and opposition went on a tour of the affected areas. Officials promised \u2013 to do what they promised to do in 2014 to prevent future floods.<\/p>\n President Mahama promised again to take \u201cdrastic measures\u201d to avoid a future occurrence.\u00a0 The government has promised to release 50 million cedis for help victims and families of the dead.<\/p>\n Two weeks on, Accra is still dirty. The debris from the floods has not been cleared. City authorities have not apologized for the deaths. No one has offered to radically transform the city and to ensure that never again will people die when the rains come.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n To make matters worse, the mayor of mayors, collected silt from the Odaw drains and dumped it on its banks, only for it to be pushed back into the drains by the slightest downpour the next day.<\/p>\n On Sunday, June 14, 2015, Accra flooded again. There were no deaths. There were damage and inconvenience. Kasoa and its environs were cut off from the rest of the city. Kwame Nkrumah Circle parts of Osu and Kokomlemle were submerged.<\/p>\n The sad reality is that, no one has offered a practical and comprehensive plan with timelines to end the city\u2019s perennial flooding. The Odaw River is still choked. So are all the other receptacles for rainwater in the city.<\/p>\n I\u2019m starting to despair. As always, we complained, ranted and went back to sleep. \u00a0Perhaps it is the shock and the years of neglect, but \u00a0our anger, angst and disappointment over the deaths seems to be fizzling out. We have returned to our usual ways of dealing with our government’s neglect \u2013 our \u2018fa ma nyame\u2019 ways. We have handed the deaths to God.<\/p>\n