Heavy Rainfall

Friday July 24, 2009
By Charles Asante

THE rains have been thorns in the flesh of most Ghanaians, especially, in the month of June.

In view of that, when it is cloudy, some families panic whilst others are driven in despair.

On June 19, over seven deaths were recorded and properties worth millions of cedis were destroyed by the rains.

Again on Saturday, June 27, this year, residents of Kaneshie and some parts of Mallam had their roads and buildings engulfed in floods.

Worst still, a family of three was lost at Kronum Kwapra near Bremang in Kumasi in a similar incident.

In this light, the question every discerning Ghanaian would like to ask is that: “Is rainfall a blessing or a curse?”

Although some people have claimed the recent downpour was to notify us about the second coming of Christ and the end-time, contrarily, I believe it was a wake-up call to all and sundry.

Ghanaians, since time immemorial have been praying for more rains to boost agriculture and increase the water level of the Akosombo Dam which of course buttresses the fact that rainfall can be a blessing irrespective of its devastating consequences.

However, the incessant rainfall witnessed in the month of June this year, has a few lessons to teach us.

The first and most obvious lesson we can learn as a people is proper maintenance of drainage systems.

We should understand that drainage systems are meant for liquid waste and not solid waste.

Thus, we must desist from dumping refuse into gutters since they tend to choke and do not allow the free flow of water.

We must participate actively in the desilting of choked gutters in our vicinities. We should not sit aloof and wait for Zoomlion to clear our gutters for us.

Moreover, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) should be pragmatic in enforcing its laws without fear or favour.

NADMO should also liaise with the Lands Commission in order to stop the registration of lands in waterways.

Demolition exercises should not be conducted on political grounds.

Finally, the onus lies on us to avoid building houses or erecting kiosks in waterways so as to safeguard our personal effects from the floods.

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