By: Murtala Issah
More than thirty thousand people in the Volta and Savannah Regions of Ghana were recently displaced by floods. The floods also caused considerable damage to infrastructure and wiped away the livelihoods of thousands of people.
In the Savannah Region, over seven thousand people were displaced.
According to the Savannah Regional Minister, Muaz Saed, the floods “submerged four hundred houses, destroyed four poultry farms with thousands of birds, one thousand six hundred ruminants were drowned while one thousand five hundred and sixty acres of farms were washed away.”
The Chief of Mepe in the Volta Region, Togbe Kordzo Azagba, in an interviewwith journalists in Yendi, disclosed that, “it will take us at least four years, maybe five years to recover from the floods.”
Many Ghanaians have identified climate change as the main cause of extreme weather disasters in recent times in Ghana and faulted government for not doing enough to mitigate climate change impact in the country.
The Ghana Meteorological Service has forecast more rains in the coming year, attributing the unpredictable rainfall patterns to climate change. The development is a major cause of concern for climate change experts and environmental advocates, who believe government’s mitigation efforts are woefully inadequate.
A lecturer and climate change expert at the University for Development Studies (UDS), Abdallah Abdul Karim, in an interview with gbc news, expressed worry, that, government is being “more reactive than proactive” in its response climate.
“When you look at the 2013 Ghana Climate Change Policy, as well as our national determined contributions updated, all these policies have inbuilt adaptation mechanisms. But when you look at those adaptation mechanisms, they are more responsive to the flooding situation instead of being proactive,” he noted.
Mr. Abdul Karim believes a proactive strategy could have averted the recent floods and many flood disasters that have occurred in Ghana in recent years.
“Our simulations should have been able to tell us that, this is the intensity of rainfall we are receiving at this particular time and take the necessary steps to avert the floods instead of forming committees to distribute relief items after the floods have caused havoc,” he stressed.
He warned that, climate related disasters in the country will get worse unless government takes urgent steps to mitigate the impact.
The Executive Director of Rise Ghana, a civil society organization based in Northern Ghana, Mohammed Awal, believes climate change disasters could jeopardise Ghana’s efforts at attaining many targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“If you consider the fact that about seventy percent of Ghanaians rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, and the fact that Ghana’s agriculture is tied to the rainfall cycle and the issue of climate change making rains unpredictable, the vulnerabilities of people will increase and derail efforts to attain many SDG targets,” he stated.
According to the Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency , Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana needs to invest more in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies to save future generations.
“In our case (North Tongu), the last time we saw something of this magnitude was about sixty years ago. Even now that climate change is impacting so rapidly, there is no guarantee that we will have to wait for sixty years, it (floods) will come much earlier. We should all work together together to find a lasting solution so that this does not recur so we can guarantee the safety of our compatriots.”
Mr. Ablakwa stressed the need to move away from the reactive approach to find a lasting solution to the perennial flood problem.
“If we just take it as business as usual, provide relief items without doing anything concretely in terms of an engineering solution, in terms of having a way of rechanneling this excess water towards National development, we are going to see more destruction, and that should not be allowed to happen, we should not fail the next generation, we must put in place measures based on the the exigencies of climate change,” he emphasised.
Following the recent flood disasters, government set up an interministerial committee to coordinate support for the victims of the floods. The Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare who is leading the committee, told journalists in Buipe, that government that government is working to address extreme weather disasters in the country.
“We are determined to adhere to the necessary protocols to mitigate climate change impact while embarking on programmes to prevent climate disasters in the future,” she stressed.
For displaced persons like Seyram Agordo whose house now sits beanth the Volta Lake at Enuaso Obiarabanye in the East Gonja District of the Savannah Region, the assurance from the Chief of Staff means nothing. However, government could take urgent steps to prevent many more Ghanaians from slipping down the ladder of poverty and food insecurity through proactive action.
