Dennis Miracles Aboagye, Director of Communications for the Bawumia Campaign Team, has criticised the Mahama administration for what he describes as its failure to present a clear and comprehensive strategy to address Accra’s persistent flooding challenges.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Monday, Mr Aboagye argued that the government had focused more on lamenting the situation than outlining practical solutions capable of restoring public confidence and protecting residents from recurring flood disasters.
According to him, governments are entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the safety, welfare and prosperity of citizens and must therefore be held accountable for addressing critical national challenges.
“A country entrusts its resources, freedoms, and rights to a select few so that they can guide the people and lead them towards prosperity, growth, and safety,” he said. “So when the leaders we have given that responsibility are merely lamenting to us, it becomes a serious problem.”
Mr Aboagye contended that despite being fully aware of Accra’s vulnerability to flooding, the government had yet to communicate a clear roadmap detailing how it intends to permanently address the problem.
“They have failed to tell the people of this country what their roadmap is in solving flooding in Accra. A clear-cut roadmap. We are in a hopeless situation,” he stated.
He rejected suggestions that the current administration was only now coming to terms with the severity of Accra’s flooding problem, pointing out that President John Dramani Mahama had previously served as president and therefore possessed extensive knowledge of the issue.
“This government should not pretend as if they just came into office and all of a sudden they are realising how Accra is,” he said.
Mr Aboagye referenced the June 3, 2015 disaster, one of the deadliest tragedies in Ghana’s history, when severe flooding and a fuel station explosion in Accra resulted in significant loss of life and widespread destruction. He argued that the catastrophe should have provided valuable lessons for future flood management efforts.
“Our president has been president before. In fact, one of the most devastating flood disasters this country has seen in its history happened under his presidency during his first term,” he noted.
He further questioned the effectiveness of interventions introduced after the disaster, recalling that then-President Mahama established a committee and announced plans to re-engineer Accra to address the city’s drainage and flooding challenges.
“His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, immediately after the June 3 disaster, set up a committee. In fact, he indicated that he was re-engineering Accra. What happened?” he asked.
According to Mr Aboagye, the continued recurrence of severe flooding in the capital raises legitimate concerns about whether those measures achieved their intended objectives.
He argued that many Ghanaians voted for President Mahama’s return to office because they believed his previous experience in government would enable him to tackle long-standing challenges more effectively.
“One of the reasons why a lot of Ghanaians went to vote for His Excellency John Dramani Mahama was because they felt that he would have learned something from the experience he had in the past,” he said.
Mr Aboagye noted that experience was a central theme of President Mahama’s campaign and played a significant role in securing public support.
“Eight years in opposition, you come into office with experience. In fact, His Excellency said during the campaign period that we want experience. It was one of his mantras, and a lot of people bought into it,” he added.
He further observed that the President’s substantial electoral victory reflected the high expectations Ghanaians had for his administration.
“People were very hopeful. A 1.7 million vote difference speaks a lot. It is a huge mandate,” he said.
Mr Aboagye also questioned why, several months into the administration’s tenure, authorities were still identifying flood-prone areas and hotspots, arguing that such assessments should already have been completed given the President’s previous experience in office.
“A president that some people believed in and voted for on the back of your experience, you spend one and a half years out of your few years in office identifying hotspots. That is where the problem is,” he stated.
He urged the government to focus on presenting practical solutions, measurable actions and clear implementation timelines rather than attributing responsibility to residents who build on waterways or fail to comply with planning regulations.
“Tell the people what your roadmap is in ensuring that moving forward, when it rains for 30 minutes, they will be able to get to their homes. That’s what they want to hear,” he stressed.
Mr Aboagye maintained that the ultimate responsibility for effective urban planning, flood prevention and disaster management rests with state institutions, which must provide citizens with a clear strategy for addressing Accra’s recurring flooding challenges.
