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A Choice Between Rescue And Recovery From The Wrath Of 5ft-Deep Twin “Dams” In The Middle Of A Major Road In The Tamale Metro

By Dr. Abdul-Fatahi Abdulai Kambala
Article A Choice Between Rescue And Recovery From The Wrath Of 5ft-Deep Twin Dams In The Middle Of A Major Road In The Tamale Metro
JUN 12, 2019 LISTEN

A person may cause evil to others not only by his action but his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury’.

For us a people, we prefer to be hailed for our heroic exhibit after we have recovered bodies in the aftermath of avoidable catastrophes in our God fearing society rather than try to think and arrest situations before they get out of hand. Sometimes too, we even design and develop plans only for disasters we know are waiting to happen, claim lives and properties. Surely, this is when we get the opportunity to call on the international community to sympathise with us and also help us to celebrate the anniversaries of such events in grand styles.

A typical example is the coming into being of two giant holes, four yards apart, the size of a dam each; 5ft deep and about 20 yards in diameter with tributaries, left behind by last year’s heavy rains on a ring road in the Tamale Metro. For clarity, this is the one linking Vittin on Yendi Road to Bolgatanga Road through Gbewaa Residential area (Koblimahigu). Now, the twins are well developed to be delivered and henceforth ready to set another record to register a place in the Guinness Book of Records for our future reference. We the residents had enough last year; having to swim with our families to our houses everyday just because we had no voice to cry, nobody to ask for us and nothing to show that we also deserve better roads, at least open gutters and good night sleep when it is raining in the night.

What is more, after all minor accidents and near misses we have had since last year, all we ask for at this material moment is a quick repair to close the dams with stones and gravel, create temporal gutters for us to take our children to school in the morning and back without losing them to dams we do not need in town. We have no other places to live and will not be happy to be visited by NADMO officials for any registrations under tree when we can do something now to continue to live in our houses.

A last, if we cannot sleep because we fear to get carried away by water from the giant holes, so we will use the long hours in fear to raise our long arms and wave to people who can see us and come to our rescue if we do not have the voice to call on people who can hear us. We do not want to be recovered by the international community or be recorded for statistical purposes. We will want to stay and contribute to national development for our children to get better lives tomorrow. Unfortunately, we do not know who to cry to but we will continue to cry until the holes are closed. Anyway, we will accordingly take records of all accidents and keep them at the appropriate place and for the appropriate times.

Surprisingly, all that is needed is a few heaps of gravel and perhaps some stones to deliver us from this year’s calamities. We cannot wait for explanations and stunning condolences after water has carried away our children. We will therefore want to spare ourselves the trauma of last year’s rains so hear us cry.

BY Dr. Abdul-Fatahi Abdulai Kambala

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