GNASSINGBE BRINGS THE RAINS

July 10 and 11 marked the end of the constant heavy downpour which brought out the vulture in Ghanaians as American President Barak Obama left the shores of Ghana in his Air Force1. Today, Faure Gnassingbe President of the Republic of Togo, touched down in our beloved country with the rains following him.

This is not to say that OBAMA took the rains away and GNASSINGBE brought it but to tell Ghanaians that the rains can always surprise us and that we must be alert because the rains cometh like thieves.

I am sure that those who have their buildings still in water ways and are not at home will be asking God in heaven not to let down the rain so heavily that their houses should get flooded.

The politicising of issues which bother on the safety of citizens of this nation of ours should be stopped and buildings in water ways and other unauthorised structures be pulled down to always avoid the trouble seeing citizens become amphibians immediately there is a rain. I also know that media houses and journalists will be looking for flood areas to make headlines for their viewers this evening- you can not blame them because it is newsworthy.

We Ghanaians have always been like the vulture who does not take precautions when building its nest and faces the harsh results of the aftermath of the rains. In the May 2, 2009 edition of the Weekly Spectator's editorial, Mr. Amos Narh of the Meteorological Agency was quotated ' people have built in waterways, the drains are not well constructed while people choke the drains with garbage, so water stagnates and causes floods. People's houses will definitely be eng ulfed in flood this year.'

The rains did not pour out for long but let us becareful not to think that there can not be floods any more before the end of the year.Also Mr. Amos Narh was again quotated saying ' in the past four hundred millimetres of rainfall over three days could not result in floods in Accra. Today , however, between sixty and eighty millimeters of rainfall could result in floods in Accra because of the blockage of the waterways….'

Much lessons had not been learnt from the mistakes of the past and the dumping of polythene and other waste materials is still going into the gutters waiting for another heavy rain to collect them into the lagoons. After the heavy rains last June, houses which were in water ways were at its mercy and the eyes of the appropriate authorities were drawn to the problems which had been in existence for a long time.

The houses were immediately pulled down and the critics were at it tempering conciense with mercy. I heard some time back that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly will arrest people dumping refuse into gutters how true that is, only God can tell.

I will appeal to the AMA and other city authorities not to relent on their efforts to do the right thing by averting the menace of the floods next year. Let us do what we must do today now and do today what we have to do tomorrow because the future is quickly turning into the present and the present also turning in to the past.

ALEX BLEGE
GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM

ACCRA.