Ask any hydrologist why Accra floods and you’ll get two answers.
The first: We built on the drains.
The second: We filled what’s left of the drains with trash.
Take the Odaw. On a dry day in 1995, it could carry 300 cubic meters of water per second. Today, after a 30-minute downpour, it chokes at 80. Why? Plastic bags. Styrofoam. Chop-bar waste. Old fridges. All dumped by people, businesses, and institutions who know it’s illegal – and know no one will punish them.
We have treated sanitation as a “public education” problem for 30 years. It’s not. It’s an enforcement problem. And until we apply the laws we already have, with arrests, fines, and jail time, we will keep burying flood victims every June.
Flooding is a sanitation crime. It’s time we prosecuted it like one.
1. The Laws Are Already on the Books. We Just Don’t Use Them.
Ghana isn’t lawless. We’re _enforcement-less_. Consider what already exists:
a. Criminal Offences Act, 1960 Act 29, Section 296
“Whoever places or causes to be placed any refuse… in or near a street, drain or watercourse commits a misdemeanor.” Penalty: up to 3 months in prison or a fine.
When was the last time someone spent 3 months in jail for dumping rubbish in the Odaw? The AMA has the by-laws. The police have the Act. But we act like it’s a suggestion.
b. Local Governance Act, 2016 Act 936, Section 181
MMDAs must “provide for the collection and disposal of refuse” and “prohibit the deposit of waste in drains.” Each Assembly has Sanitation By-laws that allow instant fines of GHS 60 to GHS 600. AMA’s by-laws allow for GHS 300 for dumping into a drain.
Yet in 2025, AMA prosecuted 412 sanitation cases in a city of 5 million people. That’s one case per 12,000 residents. You have better odds of being struck by lightning than being fined for choking a gutter.
c. Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 Act 490, Section 13
EPA can issue “enforcement notices” to stop activities that cause pollution. Dumping waste into a water body is pollution. EPA can sue. EPA can shut you down. In practice, EPA chases galamsey, not gutter-fillers.
d. Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 Act 925, Section 121
Not sanitation per se, but critical. If a planner issues a permit for a shop without a proper waste plan, and that shop dumps into the drain, the planner committed an offence. Penalty: up to 2 years in jail.
The link is clear: Sanitation failure = flood. Flood = death. The law says death by negligence is a crime. So enforce it.
2. Why We Don’t Enforce: The Four Excuses
*Excuse 1: “People are poor. We can’t punish poverty.”*
Poverty doesn’t force you to throw your takeaway pack into the gutter. It forces you to buy the food. The rich man’s estate dumps construction waste in Sakumo Lagoon. The market woman dumps fish guts at Kaneshie. Both are choices. Section 296 doesn’t ask for your bank balance.
Excuse 2: “We don’t have enough police.”
We don’t need CID for this. Act 936 gives MMDAs power to form _Sanitation Taskforces_ and use _Environmental Health Officers_ as prosecutors. They can issue spot fines. KMA did 24-hour sanitation courts in 2018. Conviction rate: 94%. Then it stopped after elections. Why? Because enforcement is political.
Excuse 3: “Where will they dump if we stop them?”
In 2026, every district capital has a Zoomlion concession. Households pay GHS 20-GHS 50 a month for pickup. The problem isn’t bins. It’s that dumping in the drain is free and instant, while waiting for Zoomlion is not. Economics beats sermons. Only fines change economics.
Excuse 4: “Big men are involved.”
The worst offenders are not individuals. They are:
1. Manufacturers who dump plastic offcuts behind the factory into drains at night.
2. Real estate developers who fill wetlands with sawdust and rubble to build.
3. Churches and schools that channel all wastewater into the nearest gutter “temporarily” for 10 years.
EPA has power to close them. MMDAs have power to revoke business operating permits. They don’t. Because the big men fund campaigns. So we arrest the kenkey seller and leave the factory owner.
3. What Real Enforcement Looks Like – And Where It’s Worked
a. Rwanda: The Kigali Model
Kigali is Africa’s cleanest city not because Rwandans are saints. In 2008, Rwanda made two rules:
1. Umuganda: Last Saturday of the month, everyone cleans. No shops open. Police check.
2. Fines: $100 for littering. $5,000 for a company dumping in waterways.
Result: Kigali hasn’t had fatal floods since 2012. Ghanaian delegations visit Kigali, take pictures, and come home to continue begging people to “be citizens.” Kigali didn’t beg. Kigali billed.
b. AMA’s Own History
In 2015, AMA under Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije launched “Operation Clean Your Frontage.” Sanitation courts fined 1,200 people in 3 months. Drains were visible. Then politics happened. The courts vanished. The drains vanished under trash again.
The lesson: Enforcement works. But it must survive elections.
4. A 5-Point Plan to Make Sanitation Laws Bite
1. Bring Back 24-Hour Sanitation Courts in Every Regional Capital
Use Act 936. Magistrates sit from 6am-6pm. Sanitation officers + police patrol. Pay them from fines collected. If the court isn’t self-financing in 90 days, the MCE gets queried.
2. Name, Shame, and Jail Company Directors
EPA must publish quarterly the names of companies fined for dumping in waterways. Section 27 of Act 490 allows EPA to prosecute directors personally. One MD jailed for 3 months will do more than 1,000 radio jingles.
3. Tie MMDCE KPIs to Drain Visibility
Every January, drone-footage the major drains. If more than 20% is blocked by waste by May, the MCE is not re-nominated. Make flooding a career-ending event for politicians, not just for flood victims.
4. Use Section 121 Against Planners Who Ignore Waste Plans
No development permit should be issued without an approved waste disposal plan. If a building is later found dumping into a drain, charge the planner who approved it. Two-year jail term. Use it once.
5. Pay Informants
Under the Whistleblower Act, 2006 Act 720, give 10% of any fine to the person who provides video evidence of dumping. Every phone is now a CCTV. Let citizens earn from enforcement.
5. The Moral Question: How Many Deaths Per Plastic Bag?
This June, 12 people died. NADMO says 38,802 are displaced. The Interior Minister says 7 are missing.
How much rubbish does it take to kill a child in Avenor? One truckload in the Odaw raises the water 2 inches. Two inches is the difference between a road and a river.
We call it “flooding.” The law should call it “manslaughter by sanitation.”
Section 296 gives us 3 months. Section 121 gives us 2 years. Act 490 gives us power to shut down companies. We have the tools.
What we don’t have is the will to use them on Mondays, not just on campaign platforms.
Until we treat a choked gutter like a crime scene, Ghana will keep holding funerals in June.
The writer is an urban governance analyst. Laws cited: Criminal Offences Act, 1960 Act 29; Local Governance Act, 2016 Act 936; Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1994 Act 490; Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 Act 925; Whistleblower Act, 2006 Act 720. This is not legal advice. For legal action, consult the Legal Aid Commission or a private lawyer.
What You Can Do Today:
1. Film anyone dumping in a drain and send to your Assembly’s WhatsApp line. Demand a reference number.
2. Ask your Assembly Member for the last 10 sanitation prosecutions in your electoral area.
3. If your business is flooded because a factory upstream blocked the drain, sue under EPA Act 490. The law is on your side.