A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) legal team Ross Osei Owusu has called for a bipartisan approach to tackling recurring flooding in the capital, Accra, warning that poor waste management, illegal construction and political blame games are worsening the crisis.
Speaking on The Forum on Asaase Radio on Saturday (30 May), Osei Owusu said flooding had become an annual challenge driven by both environmental neglect and weak enforcement of urban planning regulations.
He said buildings constructed on waterways, combined with indiscriminate dumping of waste into drains, were major factors behind the flooding that regularly affects Accra during the rainy season.
“This flooding issue is something that must be really looked at and confronted in a bipartisan way, in a manner that does not suggest that we want to play politics with it,” Osei Owusu said.
“When it rains, all this rubbish is collected and they end up in the drains. And once it is blocked, the water overflows its banks and it creates a problem for us,” he further added.
Public responsibility
He urged greater public responsibility in waste disposal practices, warning that continued environmental negligence would ensure recurring floods.
“As a people we need to be very mindful of how we treat our environment, how we handle our garbage disposal,” he said.
Osei Owusu also criticised what he described as the politicisation of flooding and other environmental challenges, saying it undermined efforts to find lasting solutions.
He compared the situation to illegal mining, known locally as galamsey, where he said political actors often trade blame depending on which party is in power.
“When you know very well that when NPP is in power and there is flooding and NDC doesn’t help to solve the problem, the NDC will be in power and the same problem will confront you,” he said.
Accra too dirty
He said Accra, often described as Ghana’s cleanest city, was increasingly being overwhelmed by sanitation challenges.
“Accra has become the dirtiest city we can have in Ghana, and this is not good for our country,” he said.
Osei Owusu warned that flooding also carries serious public health risks, including the potential spread of waterborne diseases, and called for urgent collective action.
Flooding remains a persistent problem in Ghana during the rainy season, with experts citing poor drainage infrastructure, rapid urbanisation and poor waste disposal practices as key contributing factors.
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