In Ghana, we don’t just drown in rainwater every June. We drown in excuses.
The first flood is water. It hits Kaneshie, Circle, Odawna, Weija. It carries away homes, cars, and, this year, 12 lives. NADMO counts 38,802 people displaced.
The second flood comes after. It’s the blame. It hits the airwaves, Parliament, and press conferences. And Ghanaians lose that one too.
Ghanaians lose the game when politicians start using the flooding as a blaming game instead of seeking proper solutions and stopping it as it is done every June.
1. The Script: Same June, Same Lines
If you’ve lived in Accra for more than two June seasons, you can recite the script:
Day 1: Rain falls.
Day 2: Ministers tour in wellington boots. The Minister for Works and Housing says, “We need $200 million to dredge.” The Minister for Sanitation says, “People are dumping refuse.”
Day 3: The opposition speaks. “This government has failed. In our time, we started the Conti Project. They abandoned it.”
Day 4: Government fires back. “You were in power for 8 years. Why didn’t you finish it? You signed the permits for those houses on waterways.”
Day 5: MMDCEs blame citizens. “Our people have a bad attitude.”
Day 6: Citizens blame MMDCEs. “You take permit money and look away.”
Day 7: The sun comes out. Everyone forgets until next June.
The only thing that changes is the death toll. The blame game is undefeated.
2. Why the Blame Game Is Ghana’s Real Drainage Problem
a. Blame buys time
Solving floods is hard. It means demolishing a church that sat on the Sakumo wetland for 15 years. It means jailing a district planner under Section 121 of Act 925. It means telling a campaign financier his warehouse is coming down.
Blaming is easy. It takes 3 minutes on radio. It costs no votes. And by the time the dry season comes, the radio clip is forgotten. But the waterway is still blocked.
b. Blame protects budgets
Real solutions need money and courage. The Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development Project (GARID) is $200m. Dredging the Odaw costs GHS 15m a year. But if you can convince voters that “the last government caused it,” then you don’t have to spend this year. You just have to win the argument.
So we get press conferences instead of excavators. We get “committees” instead of convictions.
c. Blame divides victims
When the NPP MP says “NDC signed the permits in 2015,” and the NDC MP says “NPP collected the fees in 2021,” the family in Avenor whose house is gone doesn’t know who to hold. So they hold no one. The politicians walk away. The water comes back.
3. The Cost of Playing Politics in a Flood
1. No institutional memory
Because every new government blames the old one, we never finish projects. The Accra Drainage Improvement Plan started in 1963. We are still “improving.” The Weija Dam desilting was announced in 2001, 2009, 2017, and 2024. The silt is still there.
2. No deterrence
If a planner knows that every June the MCE will blame “the people” or “the past government,” why should he fear Section 121 of Act 925? No one has gone to jail in 8 years. The law exists. The blame game buries it.
3. No prevention
We spend 95% of flood money on relief – rice, mattresses, NADMO tents. Only 5% goes to prevention – drainage, enforcement, relocation. Why? Because relief is visible. You get photos. Prevention is a culvert nobody sees. Blame ensures we stay in the photo business, not the flood business.
4. How to End the Game: Rules for June and July
Rule 1: A 30-Day Blame Ban After Any Flood Death
Parliament should pass a resolution: For 30 days after a flood fatality, no MP or Minister can mention a past government on a flood issue. You can only say what your Ministry will do in the next 30 days. Break the rule, lose 2 sittings. Make them compete on solutions, not history.
Rule 2: Publish the Permit File
Within 72 hours of any major flood, the affected MMDAs must publish online every building permit issued within 100 meters of the flood zone since 2000. Name of officer who signed. Date. GPS coordinates. Let citizens see who signed, not just who is shouting.
Rule 3: Fund Prevention First
The Ministry of Finance should ring-fence 60% of all “flood and disaster” allocations for dredging, demolition, and enforcement before June 1st each year. Relief gets 40%. If you reverse it, the MCE and Minister for Finance are surcharged by the Auditor-General.
Rule 4: Jail One Person Before Next June
The Attorney-General should bring one case under Section 121 of Act 925 or Section 296 of Act 29 before June 2027. One planner. One factory owner who blocked a drain. One MCE who ignored an EPA order. Televised. Until blame has a price, it will remain free.
5. The Only Side to Take Is the Side of Dry Ground
In June, there is no NPP flood and NDC flood. The water in Circle doesn’t ask for your party card. The 12 dead this year included traders, students, a police officer. The 7 missing don’t care who was in power in 2016.
So here’s a new script for politicians:
Day 1: Rain falls.
Day 2: You say, “This is my job. Here’s what I demolished in May. Here’s who I prosecuted in April. Here’s the drain we finished in March.”
If you can’t say that don’t speak. Pick a shovel.
Because every time you point at a finger, the drain gets one plastic bag narrower. And Ghanaians are tired of swimming in your arguments.
We don’t need a blame game. We need a drainage game. And we lose 1-0 every June.
The writer is a governance and urban policy analyst. Laws referenced: Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 2016 Act 925; Criminal Offences Act, 1960 Act 29. Data from NADMO and Ministry of Works and Housing. This is not legal advice.
Citizen Action: Next time an MP blames floods on “the past,” ask them: “What did you dredge, demolish, or prosecute in the last 11 months?” If the answer is nothing, they are part of the flood.