Matters Arising From The Killer Floods

The issue about our mismanagement of the environment has never attracted so much attention in the global village. It is only in countries like Ghana that it has remained a conference room subject far away from the pragmatic prescriptions put forth by international experts.

The killer flooding which struck Accra a few days ago, rekindled the subject once more but as to how long it would remain a public issue would be difficult to determine given our worrying state of amnesia as far as the environment is concerned.

At a time when we should be querying ourselves as a people for our fence-sitting attitude towards the environment, we were busy in the aftermath of the floods attacking the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) as though the agency was responsible for the killer floods.

The public debates and even polemics originating from the aftermath of the floods are not balanced but mostly tilted against policymakers; ignoring members of the public whose undisciplined conduct plays a pivotal role in causing the floods.

While both policymakers and members of the public must play their parts very well in such matters, the latter have a singular task of being more watchful over the environment. The measures rolled out to obviate the floods would be futile if public cooperation is not forthcoming.

On the Tema Motorway, we are told about how it has become a favourite dumping route for the motorized tricycles. The eyesore that their activities have left has attracted public condemnation. From officialdom has come a warning that those behind the unacceptable practice would be dealt with according to the law.

It might be impossible to arrest any of the culprits because getting anybody to apprehend such persons would be difficult to achieve. Besides, the act could be perpetuated at night and therefore away from prying eyes.

Over ninety percent of the content of domestic garbage is made up of plastics. We have written about the danger posed by this product whose negative fallouts is now a subject of international campaign.

Some international media networks have joined in the campaign with footages of marine life consuming pieces of plastic products and dying as a result. As part of the global village, we ignore the alarm on plastic products at our peril.

For the umpteenth time we demand that plastics be banned because they are overwhelming the capacity of our garbage managers to manage them among other challenges they pose.

We must, as a country, take urgent steps to cover our drainage system and be abreast with other countries even in our neighbourhood. What are we waiting for?

When these gutters are covered, we would have taken a major step towards stopping the dumping of refuse into these receptacles and coupled with the banning of plastics, we would have taken a giant step towards creating a healthier society bereft of avoidable floods.

Construction on waterways and dumping of plastic products into open gutters are the main causative agents for the floods. Stringent measures must be taken and now.