In the heart of Ghana’s capital, Accra, a public health crisis is silently unfolding.
What was once a city of promise is now being choked by neglect, pollution, and poor urban planning manifesting in overflowing drains, mounting garbage, and the ever-present threat of disease.
From the bustling Kwame Nkrumah Circle to the densely populated alleys of Agbogbloshie, Accra’s landscape is being transformed not by development, but by decay.
Open drains, originally constructed to channel stormwater away from the city, have become sprawling dumps. Today, these lifelines resemble rivers of refuse.
Plastic sachets, broken sandals, rotting organic matter, and even human waste fill these waterways. Residents, left with few options, continue to dump waste directly into the drains further clogging a system already on the brink.
Each time dark clouds gather over the capital, anxiety rises with them. Communities brace themselves not just for flooding, but for the onslaught of waste that comes with it.
The Odaw River, once a vital artery through Accra, now moves sluggishly under the weight of black sludge. At Caprice and Kwame Nkrumah Circle, flood channels have lost their capacity. Sand deposits have drastically reduced the depth of the drains, while layers of plastic trap water, forming stagnant breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
In these conditions, a cholera outbreak is not a distant threat, it is a ticking time bomb.
For residents like Ibrahim Fuseini, an artisan who has worked along the Odaw Drain for nearly a decade, the crisis is all too real. “We don’t have refuse containers here,” he says. “If authorities had provided dustbins, people would have kept their garbage in them.”
Without infrastructure to support proper waste disposal, areas like Agbogbloshie have long treated drains as dumpsites. As the rainy season approaches, the consequences of this neglect could be catastrophic.
Some action is being taken. Dredging is currently ongoing at sections of the Odaw drain, with dredge masters working to remove sediment and improve flow.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Works and Housing recently visited the site to inspect progress. Committee Chairman Vincent Oppong Asamoah called for strict enforcement of sanitation laws and the removal of unauthorized structures along the drains. “We have all the laws in Ghana,” he noted, “but the biggest challenge is enforcement.”
President John Dramani Mahama has acknowledged the need for stronger leadership on sanitation. His proposal to include cleanliness in the performance metrics for Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) reflects a push toward accountability.
“We will soon decentralize the sanitation budget and make every district responsible for its own waste,” Mahama said. “Cleanliness will become one of the key performance indicators for measuring the performance of MMDCEs.”
Despite these promises, visible change remains elusive. Across Accra, garbage piles high. Metallic refuse bins where provided, are rarely emptied. At Lavender Hill, near the sea, mounds of waste sit uncollected, only to be swept into the ocean when rains fall.
Though Ghana ranks 9th among African countries for improved sanitation and water systems, this ranking does little to reflect the grim reality on the ground.
The crisis at Agbogbloshie and beyond is not just about sanitation. It reflects a breakdown in public health systems, urban planning, and civic responsibility. If the rains arrive before critical drains are cleared, entire communities may face devastating floods.
The government must fast-track dredging operations, enforce sanitation bye-laws, and expand waste collection services. But citizens also have a role to play. Disposing of waste responsibly is not optional it’s essential. The culture of dumping garbage into drains must end.
Let clean now or prepare to pay the cost.
