In 2023, the World Bank approved an additional $150 million for Accra’s Odaw Basin under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project. The money was meant to dredge drains, build retention ponds, relocate families from waterways, and finally end the June floods that turn Circle, Kaneshie, and Odawna into rivers.
Three rainy seasons later, Accra still floods. Badly. So Ghanaians are asking: If $150 million came in 2023, why are we still drowning?
The answer isn’t in Washington. It’s in our drains, our district offices, and our politics.
1. The Money Arrived, But It Didn’t All Become Drainage
World Bank cash isn’t dumped in a Ghanaian account overnight. It comes in pieces, tied to paperwork. By May 2026, only about $63 million of that $150 million had actually been released. The rest is stuck behind “procurement compliance” and “resettlement plans.” While Accra flooded this June, the forms for the next dredger were still unsigned.
Then there’s our own money. Ghana usually has to pay 10 to 15 percent counterpart funding for every World Bank dollar. With debt restructuring squeezing the budget, the Finance Ministry often delays releasing its share. No counterpart cash, no work. So a $150 million promise becomes $50 million of real digging and $100 million of promises on paper.
2. You Can’t Dredge Away Corruption
In 2024, GHS 15 million was paid to dredge the Odaw. Drone shots from June 2026 show the same silt banks at Avenor. The Auditor-General later found “payments for unverified volumes.” Contractors claimed they removed 300,000 cubic meters of silt. Independent checks found only 80,000. The rest of the money bought V8s, not flood relief.
And the buildings keep coming. Section 121 of Act 925 makes it a crime to build on waterways. Yet since 2023, over 200 new structures have gone up in the Odaw buffer zone – churches, warehouses, even a security post. Each one has a permit. Each permit has a signature. No planner has gone to jail. $150 million can’t dredge fast enough to keep up with GHS 20,000 bribes for illegal permits.
3. The Odaw’s Real Problem Is Plastic, Not Rain
GARID engineers say the Odaw has lost 60% of its water-carrying capacity since 2010. Not from heavier rain. From refuse. Accra generates 3,000 metric tons of waste daily. Only 65% gets collected. The rest ends up in gutters.
A sachet of water costs 20 pesewas. Fishing it out of the Odaw costs GHS 5. We spend millions to create drainage capacity, then lose it again to rubbish. “Operation Clean Your Frontage” collapsed in 2023. Now the frontage is in the drain.
4. Nobody Wants to Do the Hard Part: Move People
The $150 million set aside money to move 2,000 households from Old Fadama and Sodom and Gomorrah, the most dangerous parts of the Odaw channel. By June 2026, fewer than 400 had relocated.
Why? Relocation loses votes. Telling 10,000 people to leave a waterway in an election year is political poison. So we hold “stakeholder engagements” for three years while the water rises. The World Bank can fund new houses at Adjen Kotoku. It can’t fund the courage to fill them.
5. So What Did the $150 Million Actually Do?
Based on GARID’s 2026 first-quarter report, here’s where we stand:
Dredging and interceptors got $78 million allocated, but only $32 million has been spent. The Odaw was dredged to 2.5 meters deep. It clogged again in eight months.
Solid waste management was given $25 million, with $11 million spent. Twelve transfer stations were built, but we still have a 35% collection gap.
For new drains and retention ponds, $30 million was set aside. $14 million has been used. The Nima drain is 60% complete. The gravel retention ponds at Atomic haven’t started.
Resettlement and compensation had $12 million allocated, but only $4 million spent. Just 384 households have moved. Another 1,616 families are still living on the waterway.
Project management took $5 million, with $2 million spent. Consultants were paid and reports were filed.
The bottom line: We’ve spent $63 million and gotten $63 million worth of results. But Accra needs $500 million worth of results to stay dry. The $150 million was a down payment. We treated it like the full payment.
6. The Next $150 Million Will Fail Too – Unless We Fix Three Things
First, stop the “counterpart funding” excuses. Parliament should pass a GARID Escrow Act. When World Bank money hits, Ghana’s 15% share should move automatically from the Petroleum Funds to a locked account at Bank of Ghana. If the Finance Minister delays it, he gets surcharged personally. Floods don’t wait for memos.
Second, jail one permit officer before June 2027. The Attorney-General must prosecute one district planner under Act 925 for signing a permit on the Odaw buffer. Put it on TV. Until a planner sees his colleague in Nsawam Prison, every new million dollars will be buried under new buildings.
Third, pay people to clean drains daily. Take $10 million from the next tranche and pay 20,000 youth GHS 500 a month to desilt tertiary drains every day, not once a year. Rwanda does it. Kigali doesn’t flood. The Odaw is a patient. It needs daily dialysis, not surgery every five years.
The Bank Writes Checks. We Write Excuses.*
The World Bank never promised to stop Accra’s floods. It promised to help. The rest is on us.
Every June we ask, “Where is the money?” We should ask, “Where is the enforcement? Where is the demolition? Where is the jail term?”
The Odaw doesn’t flood because we lack dollars. It floods because we lack discipline.
Until that changes, we could get $1.5 billion tomorrow and still be swimming next June.
The writer is an urban policy analyst based in Accra. Data from Ministry of Works and Housing, GARID Project Implementation Unit, and World Bank Project Appraisal Documents. This article is not an audit.
What to ask your MP this week: “How many buildings did you demolish on the Odaw buffer since the $150m came in 2023? If the answer is zero, they are part of the flood.”
Alexander Afriyie, Supervising Editor, Ghanacrimereport.com and Ghanatalk.com