“In Ghana, even the rain can kill you. Not because it’s wicked—but because we never planned for its arrival.”
— Bismarck Kwesi Davis, May 2025
ACCRA — GHANA
Executive Summary
Accra, the capital city of Ghana, faces a recurring flooding crisis due to poor urban planning, weak institutional coordination, and unregulated land use. This white paper proposes a comprehensive national strategy—the Greater Accra Flood Resilience and Redesign Plan (GAFRRP)—to address the root causes of flooding through a multidisciplinary and multi-agency approach. It draws lessons from Kigali, Rwanda, and proposes a $514.5 million intervention, with sustainable funding strategies including climate bonds, PPPs, and grant-based financing. The paper also outlines the legal, institutional, and policy frameworks needed to implement the plan effectively.
Introduction
Accra’s flooding problem is not caused by excessive rainfall alone but by years of uncoordinated development, lack of enforcement of zoning laws, encroachment on water bodies, and inefficient drainage systems. Major areas like Odawna, Kaneshie, Alajo, and Circle experience perennial flooding, leading to economic losses, loss of life, and public health crises. Despite interventions, the lack of a unified, long-term engineering and planning strategy continues to undermine flood resilience.
The Mother Who Lost Her Castle
Her name was Leticia Ayeley Mensah, a trader with dreams bigger than her wooden kiosk in Nima. To her three children, that rickety stall was a palace, where lullabies danced under a flickering torchlight. But on May 18, 2025, the rain didn’t come to soothe—it came to destroy. The flood swept away her wares, her hopes, and her youngest, Kobby, found lifeless three gutters away. All that remained was a cracked plastic basin and a grief too heavy for words.
This isn’t just Leticia’s story. It’s Accra’s. And it’s time we rewrite the ending.
I. The Comedy of Our Chaos
In Ghana, we have a peculiar talent: we turn rain into a national emergency. Our flood warning signs go up after the deluge, like a doctor diagnosing a corpse. Our drains? They’re less “drainage systems” and more “water relocation programs,” cheerfully dumping stormwater into the neighbor’s living room. Our city plans? Sketches on a napkin, scribbled during a lunch break.
We build mansions in wetlands and call them “prime real estate.” The Lands Commission might sell you a plot in the Atlantic Ocean and throw in a free canoe. It’s almost funny—until you remember KOJO, floating three gutters away.
II. The Truth We Can’t Drown
Accra’s flood crisis isn’t a natural disaster—it’s a man-made tragedy. As a coastal city, Accra sits on a low-lying plain where water naturally pools. Yet, over 60% of its natural watercourses—rivers, streams, wetlands—have been choked by illegal construction, paved over, or politicized into oblivion. The Ghana Hydrological Authority (2023) estimates that 70% of Accra’s drainage capacity is compromised by poor urban planning and unchecked development. We’ve built our city like a dam, then acted surprised when it bursts.
But despair is not our destiny. We can engineer our way out.
III. The Accra Flood Redemption Plan
Introducing the Greater Accra Flood Resilience & Urban Engineering Plan (GAFRUEP)—a bold, practical blueprint to reclaim our city from the rain. Here’s how we do it:
Engineering Strategy Description Estimated Cost (USD) Smart Drainage Redesign A triple-channel system separating stormwater, greywater, and overflow to prevent clogging. $320M LiDAR Aerial Mapping Drone-based topographic analysis for precise drainage planning. $5M Wetland Recovery Zones Restore 800 acres of natural wetlands to act as water-absorbing sponges. $130M Digital Zoning & Permit System A transparent GIS platform to enforce zoning and halt illegal construction. $18M Safe Relocation Housing Resettle flood-prone communities in secure, dignified housing. $80M
Total Cost: $553M over 5 years
Funding Models
Diaspora Climate Bonds: $200M from Ghanaians abroad, blending GHC and USD investments with competitive returns.
AfDB Urban Climate Facility: $150M from the African Development Bank’s climate resilience fund.
Private Sector PPPs: $100M via tax incentives for corporate investment in drainage infrastructure.
Accra Resilience Levy: $3M annually from a modest 1 GHC/month per resident, raising $60M over 5 years.
This isn’t a wishlist—it’s a survival plan. For context, Ghana spent $500M on road infrastructure in 2023 alone (Ghana Ministry of Finance, 2024). If we can pave highways, we can build drains.
IV. Who’s Holding the Spanner?
Fixing Accra’s floods requires accountability. Here’s who needs to step up:
Town and Country Planning Department: Redesign Accra with human lives in mind. Stop approving buildings in floodplains.
Lands Commission: Digitize land records and stop selling wetlands. Transparency isn’t optional—it’s mandatory.
MMDAs: Enforce zoning laws or resign. No more rubber-stamping permits for cash.
Ministry of Roads and Highways: Every road must have a drain. If it doesn’t, it’s not a road—it’s a canal.
This isn’t about blame—it’s about responsibility. We’ve all seen the videos of ministers wading through knee-deep water, promising “action.” Let’s make those promises concrete—literally.
V. A National Mandate for Dry Feet
We need an Urban Flood Management Act to enshrine:
Mandatory Topographic Zoning: No construction without respecting natural water flows.
National Flood Disaster Budget: A dedicated fund for prevention, not just relief.
Citizen Transparency: Real-time access to permit approvals and project timelines.
Engineering Standards: Regular audits to ensure drains don’t double as trash bins.
This isn’t another policy to launch with fanfare and forget by lunchtime. It’s a revolution in how we build, plan, and live.
Conclusion
Picture an Accra where no mother checks the sky before singing a lullaby. Where no child’s sandals float away in a gutter. Where rain is just rain—not a reckoning.
This future isn’t a fantasy. It’s affordable. It’s achievable. If we can import luxury V8s and build monuments that touch the clouds, we can build a drain that works. Let’s stop arguing on TV, Radio and on Social Media about who is to blame and start engineering a city that doesn’t drown.
Ladies and Gentlemen of Ghana. We cannot keep hosting funerals that rain invited.
We cannot keep rebuilding schools that the water rewrites.
We must engineer our way out—or be buried beneath the blueprints we ignored.
So today, I challenge Parliament: Pass the Urban Flood Management Act.
I challenge the President: Declare a National Urban Resilience Emergency.
And I challenge every Ghanaian: Don’t just share flood videos—demand flood-proof policies.
Because a country that can drill oil, mine Gold, win AFCON (hopefully),qualify for the WORLD CUP and build monuments, can certainly build a DRAIN.
“Ghana’s floods are not natural disasters. They are engineered by silence, buried in apathy, and cemented by greed. Until we lay down asphalt with conscience, every rainfall will rewrite our national obituary in mud.”
|Bismarck Kwesi Davis| |Resetting Ghana Series| |2025
References
African Development Bank. (2023). Climate Resilient Urban Development Toolkit. Abidjan: AfDB.
Ghana Hydrological Authority. (2023). National Drainage Audit Report. Accra: Government of Ghana.
Ghana Ministry of Finance. (2024). Annual Budget Statement. Accra: Government of Ghana.
World Bank. (2022). Resilient Cities: Lessons from Kigali. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications.
