In this analysis, I take serious issue with the persistent failure to implement effective policy responses to the recurring floods in Accra, Ghana’s capital. I am particularly troubled by President John Dramani Mahama’s evasive approach to identifying the crisis’s root causes. On one hand, the president absolves engineers of responsibility for the floods; on the other, he attributes the disaster to a combination of engineering failures and societal attitudes—a nation seemingly content to clog its drainage systems with garbage rather than pay for proper waste disposal or maintain a clean environment.
While I concur with the president that public attitudes and behaviours play a significant role, he conspicuously omits a fundamental cause of the problem: the appointment of unqualified political loyalists to critical positions in government, especially within municipal administrations. By filling these offices with party affiliates lacking expertise in law enforcement or waste management, the government undermines the very institutions responsible for safeguarding public welfare. Until Ghana addresses the issue of “round pegs in square holes,” political speeches will continue to serve as hollow substitutes for the robust policies and competent leadership the nation so desperately needs.
While President Mahama’s genial personality and likability are undeniable strengths, they do little to compensate for the persistent lack of substantive understanding demonstrated by both his appointees and, at times, the president himself regarding Ghana’s perennial and worsening flood crisis. Instead of returning to the drawing board to develop practical, long-term strategies for flood mitigation, the president, his ministers, and municipal officials have engaged in excessive rhetoric with little meaningful action.
What is particularly jarring—and frankly, an insult to the intelligence of flood victims—is the spectacle of ministers, often inappropriately attired for the gravity of the situation, engaging in empty promises and distributing goods, seemingly more concerned with currying favour among voters than addressing the root causes of the disaster. The president and his vice, Professor Naana Opoku, partaking in superficial gestures such as ceremonially digging a shovel of dirt, only serves to trivialize what is, in reality, a national tragedy demanding serious, sustained, and expert intervention.
What followed these public stunts was, regrettably, a masterclass in political complacency—a hollow interlude in which leaders simply waited for the next disaster to strike, thus perpetuating a cynical cycle of manufactured empathy, formulaic speeches, and ostentatious church vigils. These charades do nothing to confront the root causes of the crisis. Instead, they cynically enrich party-affiliated and corporate pastors, who peddle the illusion of supernatural intervention while lining their own pockets at the expense of public trust. Such performative theatrics are not only woefully inadequate but are an affront to the intelligence and dignity of the Ghanaian people, who deserve more than recycled rhetoric and ritualized inaction in the face of ongoing national tragedies.
One of the main drivers of garbage accumulation and catastrophic flooding in Ghana is the chronic failure of municipal assemblies and local authorities to enforce basic sanitation laws. Far too often, those employed to uphold these regulations remain ensconced in their offices, detached from the very streets they are tasked with monitoring. When officials do venture into the field, it is frequently under the guise of tax collection—a process marred by corruption, with a portion of collected funds surreptitiously lining their own pockets.
Bribe-taking is rampant, resulting in a culture of willful blindness toward mountains of refuse, plastic-bagged human waste dumped in open drains, and the pervasive stench of neglect. Even more insidious is the widespread practice of indiscriminately offloading and burning garbage in communal spaces—streets littered by homeowners, tenants, and mechanics seeking to cut costs, heedless of the environmental consequences or the law. The result is a grotesque overaccumulation of waste, which clogs drainage systems and impedes the flow of rainwater.
Despite public posturing and repeated pledges to enforce the law, my recent observations in Accra—specifically in Achimota, Agbogbloshie, Awudome, James Town, and the Timber Market—paint a bleak picture: gutters choked with plastic bottles, bags, styrofoam containers, and stagnant black water. This is not merely an eyesore; it is a ticking time bomb, a cumulative disaster-in-waiting poised to unleash yet another perfect storm upon the nation, with Accra as ground zero.
In their relentless pursuit of electoral victory, national politicians and their appointees—many of whom owe their very positions to political patronage—have adopted a disturbingly lenient approach to law enforcement. Rather than upholding the rule of law, they deliver moralizing sermons to offenders—particularly market traders and tenants, many of whom reside in dwellings devoid of basic sanitation facilities—urging them to collaborate with government officials to maintain cleanliness in the streets and environment.
To curry favour with market women, the government routinely deploys female ministers armed with carefully scripted speeches, pleading for cooperation in the name of electoral preservation. Such overtures betray a deep-seated fear of alienating a powerful voting bloc; the government’s actions—or conspicuous inactions—have effectively allowed policy to be hijacked by market women wielding the proverbial Damocles sword, threatening to inflict electoral harm by either voting for the opposition or abstaining altogether.
This transactional relationship has transformed both government and public officials into willing accessories to ongoing violations, turning law enforcement into little more than a sermon of appeasement in anticipation of the next election. The result is a system where appeasement, rather than accountability, reigns—undermining the very foundation of governance and the public good.
Solving Ghana’s recurring flood crisis demands nothing less than collective self-reflection and unwavering enforcement of the law, however uncomfortable or politically costly that may be. While President John Dramani Mahama has called on the nation to “reset” and change its attitude—couched in the mild language of promoting cleanliness—such a campaign must begin with the president himself and the officials who serve under him. The president and his administration must internalize a basic truth: the law is no respecter of persons and must take precedence over political expediency and transactional alliances.
Empty rhetoric about “putting a human face” on crime or “sensitizing” violators of environmental statutes—offences clearly delineated in the law—are, frankly, inconsequential. Leadership is not merely about service; it is also about the rigorous and impartial application of the law. Anything less, as evidenced by the nation’s perennial floods, is a dereliction of duty and a manifestation of weak leadership—terms that should be invoked without hesitation.
The government must adopt rigorous key performance indicators to retain only those officials who consistently demonstrate competence, integrity, and a genuine commitment to public service. Those who underperform or exploit their positions for personal gain should be promptly removed from office, with immediate suspension of their pay and pension benefits pending the outcome of a thorough investigation into their acts of negligence or alleged criminality. Furthermore, where negligence or criminal misconduct—such as the issuance of unofficial building permits—can be established, it is both just and necessary that a portion of these individuals’ earnings and pensions be used to offset the costs incurred by their actions. Anything less is a flagrant disregard for accountability and good governance, and perpetuates a culture of impunity that undermines the nation’s future.
Until the rule of law is allowed to operate as intended, rather than revised ad hoc to mollify powerful political constituencies—such as market women in the present context—Ghana will remain a nation with the trappings of institutions and legality, but in reality, a lawless jungle where statutes are shredded and patched at the whim of those with influence, while victims and communities suffer in silence. Ghana is, indeed, moving in reverse, and the urgent need for competent, principled leadership across all sectors cannot be overstated.
