Public official’s lackadaisical attitude caused the perennial flooding — Tema Manhean residents

Some residents of the Oninku and Homowo electoral areas in Tema Manhean have called on the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) and other relevant authorities to sit with the management of the Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) and ALUWORKS to ensure that they clear all the waterways to the Chemu Lagoon which they have blocked to help save lives and properties during the raining season.

The residents blamed the massive flooding they experienced after the Tuesday early morning rains on some ongoing industrial construction works in the area.

Mr. Godfred Tetteh Abbey, the former Assembly Member for the Oninku electoral area, explained that a drain in the area was dredged to contain the storm drain three times in the past four years to take care of the floods adding however that parts of the drain had been blocked by the construction of the oil refinery.

The residents who looked depressed and were yet to overcome their floodwater experience explained that they were not experiencing such massive flooding until construction works started on a supposed oil refinery and two other companies blocking and diverting the tributaries of the Chemu Lagoon.

According to them, a small channel was created for the floodwater upstream to pass through into the Chemu and subsequently into the sea, this they said was not the solution to the problem as the flooding of their residents and shops was evidence of its ineffectiveness.

During a tour of some of the communities, 48 hours after the rains the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) noticed that most of the residents were still wading through the dirty floodwaters which have entered their rooms at Zinginshore, Water land, and Manhean Down, among others, with some taking shelter at the premises of Nag School Complex.

A nursing mother said apart from losing all her properties including her wedding items in the flood, she had to throw her three-month-old baby across the flood to a neighbour to be taken to safer grounds as the child was lying in the floodwater that entered their rooms.

It would be recalled that in February, this year, the TMA led by the Metropolitan Chief Executive Mr. Yohane Amarh Ashitey, said the Assembly had initiated a series of engagements with managements of companies developing structures along tributaries of the Chemu Lagoon to find proper ways to channel water into the sea.

Mr. Frank Asante, TMA Public Relations Officer who spoke on behalf of the MCE affirmed that the development of structures by the companies around the south-western part of the Tema Metropolis had been identified as the contributory factor to the perennial flooding of the communities along the tributaries.

In view of that Mr. Asante said the meeting was to bring together the companies and other stakeholders such as the Hydrological Services Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency to come up with a solution ahead of the rainy season.

But three months after the meetings with the management of the various companies, still the residents are struggling with the continuous flooding anytime it rains.