It’s been 7 years since the twin disaster of fire and flood in Ghana and yet, whenever the rains come down heavily, despair, loss and great fear settle in the hearts of many Ghanaians.
The heavy downpour today has left many areas of Accra flooded as they do usually year-on-year. It’s almost as though whoever knows the solution to this problem has refused to do it all this while. It gets quite disturbing and quite sorrowful when rain becomes a source of morbid fear in people.
What did the Ghanaian people ever do to deserve this? Right under our noses, money is being given to continue building a national cathedral. In the same vein, we are slammed in our faces with chants to fix ourselves. I’ve always considered human life and property to be of paramount importance to any nation, but at this point, I don’t know what to think anymore since the elected body that we mandated to run our affairs for us as a nation continually proves us wrong and bolsters its stance that it cares more about personal pleasures and fulfilment than the greater good of the country.
Admittedly, the people of Ghana are not innocent of this too. From dumping rubbish anywhere there is space to stealing dustbins that the government provides for communities, it’s obvious that we, as a people do not want to get better. We march on the streets and chant ‘FixTheCountry’ but we are unwilling to do those things which will make fixing the country easier and more realistic.
Development is what we all seek, or at least that is what we choose to believe to calm our troubled hearts. When the government genuinely does its part, it will be easier for ordinary Ghanaians to fix their attitude. When there are jobs to employ youth so they don’t go days without food due to unemployment, they will be less motivated to go into robbery and vandalism. When our taxes really work for us, we will not be having cases of flooding and loss of property and life every year.
This must stop.