Features
When the rains come…
• Rains cause havoc in Accra every year
I live on Osabiede Street, a flood prone area of Mataheko in Accra. This area used to have a seven-year cycle of flooding. The first I experienced was on June 20, 2002. The second was June 19, 2009. I was preparing for the next one in June 2016 when June 3 happened in 2015.
Osabiede, or Kaneshie, is just one of the numerous flood prone areas of the capital and other places in this country. We all remember the fire that came with the flood at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle that took scores of lives, including my landlord’s grandnephew who found himself at Circle by default. It took us all by surprise.
Then we were told there was the need for a storm drain in front of the Accra Academy Senior High School that would solve the perennial flooding of the highway christened Dr. Busia Highway. When I visited the construction site I knew what was done was not a storm drain. I am told when President Akufo-Addo went to inaugurate the project he was mad at what he saw.
I am no engineer in hydrology, but common sense told me that would solve nothing. The next raining season saw the southern wall of Accra Academy come tumbling down. The asphalt on the stretch opposite the Kaneshie market folded up like a roll of linoleum. Osabiede Street was impassable and I could not move my car out of the driveway.
I went to the area office of the Department of Urban Roads where the Maintenance Engineer informed me that the roads in the general area of Central University had been given on contract and they would be fixed before the next rains set in. When I went to check I realised laterite had been spread on the street named after the celebrated musicologist, Dr. Ephraim Amu. Till date, the streets have remained undone and deteriorating.
I called the then Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ablekuma Central Constituency who told me it did not come under his remit. He forwarded the contact of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) to me because, according to him, the Assembly was responsible for such things.
When the MP lost in the 2020 elections I was not surprised since the constituency had a notorious reputation of making their MPs one-term office holders.
I agree it was not his job as MP, but I wondered if he could not lobby the Assembly on our behalf. I placed a call to the MCE who picked it on the second ring. It was a woman and she agreed to meet with me at her office on a date and time.
I was at the offices of the MCE ahead of time. She was four minutes ahead of the agreed time and quickly asked her Secretary after me. Madam Mariama Marley Amui was a very comely and motherly woman. She informed me that she was appointed to the job a month or so and was new to the terrain. After conferring with her administrator, one Tagoe was summoned to her office.
Tagoe said he knew the problem of my area too well but said he had to check if it was still under the jurisdiction of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) or if it was ceded to Ablekuma Central.
I asked him to give me his contact so I could check back on him. He declined and wanted mine so he could give me an update. Over four years on Tagoe has not been in touch and, knowing how public officers behave, I have not bothered to go back to the Assembly.
The Municipal Engineer, Justice Abdoni, drove in just as I was about to leave the premises. He told me in professional terms that our area needed a huge capital inflow to fix. It turned out that the engineer was right and I gave up on trying to go round offices talking to people who knew next to nothing about drains. I mean proper drains. He said a proper drainage was needed from the area near the GRA offices at Mataheko eastwards through the Abossey Okai area into the Korle, then into the Gulf of Guinea.
A couple of months before last year’s rains I was told some people had come to our area, marking spots for what they referred to as areas to consider for expansion of the drains to forestall further flooding. I later understood they were talking about the World Bank funding the project. Knowing that the World Bank would not give out money without ensuring it was expended properly I was a little relieved.
Nothing was done and the rains came to destroy the street the more. A young entrepreneur decided to make a stretch of the street motorable, in concrete, for his delivery trucks. After about 60 metres and over a few hundreds of thousands of cedis, someone showed up claiming he was the contractor chosen to do the drains and asked the young entrepreneur to discontinue his effort and save his money. He said he would commence work in September.
September came and went and we are in February. We have not seen or heard from the man claiming to be the contractor. The street remains unmotorable save the concrete stretch. In a couple of months the rains will come again and the cycle will continue one more time.
I have already asked my compatriots up north to make the perennial floods from the spillage of water from the two dams in Burkina Faso their election issue next year. We elect and appoint people to fix our problems yet the problems remain unsolved and, in some cases, get worsened. We have engineers who should foresee issues and advise policy makers but some are either in bed with the politicians or simply do not know their job.
Without having an engineering mind I can determine that a lack of legislation on how we build our homes and offices takes flooding into consideration. There must be a law that prohibits tiling compounds of homes so that the ground can soak some of the water.
The worst case scenario must be to allow pavement blocks not to take more than 20 per cent of the compound space. Home owners must be encouraged to grow grass in their compound.
Our technocrats must push our policy makers to do the needful in the interest of the people. Until a little over a decade ago, my birthplace of Koforidua knew no flooding. Almost every home in the Eastern Regional capital is now tiled, giving rainwater little chance of being absorbed into the soil thus opening the city to annual flooding anytime it rains.
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies must make it mandatory for homeowners to build troughs to harvest rain water on their property. Many of our estate developers leave very little or no space for their grounds to take water. I wonder if common sense asks them where they think water will go whenever it rains.
Many natural disasters cannot be predicted, but measures we put in place have the potential of mitigating their devastating effects. This is what leadership is about. What happened in southeastern Turkiye and northwest Syria could not have been prevented but the number that died could have been averted if the homeowners had followed guidelines for building in earthquake zones.
How prepared are we since Accra is sitting on a tectonic plate or an earthquake fault line? Let’s not forget that the last very severe earthquake to hit Turkiye was in 1939, the very year Ghana had its most severe earthquake. Does this tell us anything? Is history about to repeat itself? We will see the dredging of our drains after the rains have started. This is our idea of preparedness.
The rainy season is not waiting for our politicians and their communicators to finish screaming at one another in the media space before it comes. Let them settle down to what Ghanaians voted for them to do. Meanwhile, how ready are our leaders when the rains come?
Writer’s email address:
akofa45@yahoo.com
By Dr. Akofa K. Segbefia
It is still the contention of my uncle, Kofi Jogolo, that the moment God created woman, He created a big problem for man. If not, why would man always have to trim his moustache in such a way as to please woman and not himself? And why would a man’s holy organ keep nodding like an agama lizard just because there is a creation called woman?
Sir Kofi Jogolo whose moustache deserves both a national award and mention in the Guinness Book of Records for its stylish variations, told me recently that when you marry, you have palaver; if you don’t marry, you have wahala. All because of woman. I think the bloke is a reincarnation of Paul. Only he looks like Peter.
For those who do not marry, they may be free of marital problems, but might be in sexual bondage, because at dawn, a certain part of the body might nod in distress. It is a wonderful part of the human body that smiles with joy when a woman is lying within arm’s length.
The unmarried may not have to wait until dawn, though. After all, who says you can satisfy a sexual need only at dawn? If there is no girlfriend, there is still a way out. FEMALE BODIES FOR SALE! You only have to ask, “How much?” Sometimes it is worth the price of only two balls of kenkey.
It is for this reason that some people do not discourage women from practising prostitution because they claim the women play a vital role in national development. According to them, first, the nation cannot develop when the citizens are sex-starved. Second, they claim prostitution keeps down figures of rape cases since it is due to the scarcity of female bodies that the incidence of rape is rising.
Well, some people really adore prostitutes. With them you don’t have to worry about pregnancy. Moreover, you can skip foreplay which many people don’t have the patience for because of their high sexual temperature, or because they consider it a waste of time. And when you pay well, you can enjoy the style you want.
In actual fact, some married men also go in for prostitutes once in a while. They claim that prostitutes do not complain in bed like their wives. When you ask them to raise a leg, they comply without argument.
They also say prostitutes who are experienced can really work on certain parts of your body enough to make you blaspheme. Holy Jesus! The difference is clear then that with prostitutes you pay for the service but with wives it is for free, meaning that the quality of service must differ accordingly.
Many men also say they prefer prostitutes to girlfriends because of “back-pocket palaver”. It is their contention that with girlfriends you have to specialise in telling lies about your credit worthiness especially when you’re not only a human being but also a church mouse.
Sometimes you have to buy beer and gin because some girlfriends would not like to have sex unless they are properly soaked in booze. You also have to sing them lullabies and recite poetry to turn them on. Ask Devine Ankamah. That’s not all. When all is finished, you have to dish transport money, and if you’re not lucky she’d ask you to settle a “carry forward” you had planned to dodge.
So for just two probably lousy rounds of enjoyment, you’d spend some ¢15,000 if hotel services are included, unless you choose a hotel room where cockroaches and rats don’t practise family planning.
There are those who believe that with prostitutes, you don’t have to tell lies. It is purely business. No credit, no debit. Money na hand back na ground. When you are through and refuse to pay, she’ll cause a scene, scratch your face red and drag your butt onto the street. Next time you don’t have money, you stick to your wife or girlfriend or to your sorrows.
Prostitution in Sikaman is widespread. News reaching Palava have it that in the Obuasi area, it is the major occupation of females. They are in lucrative business. They come from all over the country -Bolga, Tamale, Kumasi, Sunyani, Accra, Odumase, wherever. A few are said to have come from Lagos in full gear.
When they all come, they sometimes don’t do so with only their bodies and luggage. They also carry with them something small in the form of a disease called AIDS which they distribute free of charge.
So why Obuasi? Gold! The great successes of Ashanti Goldfields combined with the notoriety and boom of galamsey activities have acted as a magnet, drawing in those who peddle their bodies for cash. No cheques!
Sometime back, it was reported that AIDS cases in the Obuasi area had soared. The reason, prostitution. Obuasi prostitutes are, however, of class. They dress to kill. Some speak even more languages, so if you’re a client and you speak even in tongues, they understand. And they drink beer exactly like Germans.
So what really are we doing about these prostitutes who, some say are contributing to national development and others say are enhancing national obituary?
Sikaman Palava has said it once that the law enforcement agencies have tried time and again to rid them off the streets. They have always failed in doing so. The problem is that they are as slippery as the cockroach. When harassed, they disappear and practise all the same. If caught, they are fined and the next day they are firmly at post.
Some people say because we can’t get rid of them, we must neither encourage nor discourage them. We must find a way of organising them into co-operatives under the name of “SPECIAL HUMAN SERVICES.”
They’d undergo medical screening and those with AIDS banned from practising. The rest would undergo a course in the cause, prevention and cure of sexually-transmitted diseases, personal hygiene, condom use and the healthful ways of practising prostitution.
Then they can be let loose to practise under laid-down rules and regulations and their income taxed.
That way, the prostitutes would be more beneficial to society and would not be the problem we see them to be.
This article was first published on Saturday June 29, 1996
This year June and part of July, is an enjoyable season for football lovers due to the World Cup which is held every four years. The World Cup is such a huge event and also very prestigious so it is highly competitive.
Countries registered with the Federation of International Football Association, (FIFA) become automatic members. FIFA organises tournaments on the five continents of the world, to enable countries to be selected to play in the World Cup competition.
Governments support their national teams to ensure qualification to the World Cup due to the prestigious nature of the tournament. Certain countries even go to the extent of renting a place of their choice, instead of the accommodation provided by FIFA, to ensure that they win the ultimate crown, as Germany did in the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
Mental strength a requisite for emerging victorious in football matches at such high professional level and everything must be done to endure that players are focused on the matches ahead of them.
There is however, a peculiar situation in this year’s World Cup, where it is being hosted by three countries namely the United States of America, Mexico and Canada and where one of the host countries, is at war with one of the competing countries.
The United States of America, is waging a war against Iran. The US has prevented Iran from staying in the US where they were originally scheduled by FIFA to play their matches. The US using its power as the host country, has refused to let Iran to stay and FIFA has provided a place in Mexico for the Iranian team to stay. They have to spend about five hours to fly to the US and prepare to get ready for their matches, each match day.
They are also forced to leave the US as soon as they finish playing their matches, without resting. Despite this inhumane treatment being forced on them by the USA, the Iranian team is mentally strong and have managed to draw their two matches played.
This is a clear manifestation of mental toughness, resulting from having the right mindset.
Life has a way of often dealing bad cards to a lot of people but it is important that when it happens like that, you look at what you can do with what you have, to still achieve the goals you have set for yourself.
There is a saying that when life throws you a lemon you make lemonade out of it. The barriers confronting you might be great, but it is the attitude you display that makes the difference.
The Iranians have really shown that the right mindset is indeed everything you need to be successful. They looked at their situation and assessed what was not going in their favour and found appropriate steps to address it.
Given the teams Iran was to play, the challenge was indeed huge, given the circumstances they found themselves in, but the right mindset to never give up, did the trick for them.
As human beings, we are always confronted with challenges, right from the day we start to crawl, the day we take our first steps and as we continue to grow into adulthood. Challenges are part of our daily lives and we must therefore condition our minds, that we shall encounter them and so must constantly be innovative in overcoming them, when we encounter them.
We need as a country, to develop a critical thinking skill capabilities in our youth, as an investment in the future fortunes of this country. Developing the right mindset, will enable us overcome every challenge. God bless.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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