As flood concerns continue to dominate public debate, rapper Kwaw Kese has challenged President John Dramani Mahama’s assertion that Accra’s perennial flooding is not primarily the result of engineering failures, arguing that poor infrastructure plays a major role in the crisis.
While acknowledging the President’s leadership, the musician said it was time for citizens to openly discuss the country’s challenges, stressing that flooding affects everyone regardless of status.
“We’ve been quiet for some time now and I think currently, some things are going on in the country and we need to speak up. We have to talk because the floods affect all of us. Mr President, I greet you. In Ghana here, we all love you as our president,” he said.
Kwaw Kese took issue with Mahama’s recent remarks dismissing engineering as the main cause of flooding in the capital, insisting that defective drainage systems and poorly designed bridges are significant contributors to the recurring disaster.
“There’s a statement you made that the problems we have in Accra about the flood are not an engineering problem. The truth is, there’s a lot of engineering problems in the city concerning our gutters and bridges. Maybe you haven’t seen some of them, but I can give you an example,” he stated.
To support his argument, the rapper pointed to the ongoing construction of the Klagon Bridge, claiming the project’s design has obstructed the natural movement of water instead of improving drainage.
“An example is the Klagon Bridge that they’re doing right now. If anybody drives around that bridge, park and check. The contractor decided to use culverts to channel the water, instead of allowing enough space for the water to pass beneath the bridge. That has blocked the passage of the water. If you see the weight of the water that they used culverts to block and direct it, that is not good engineering,” he shared.
He also highlighted what he described as widespread shortcomings in Accra’s drainage network, arguing that many gutters are undersized, left uncovered, or fail to connect to proper outlets, making flooding almost unavoidable during heavy downpours.
“Secondly, check our gutters. We have gutters that lead to nowhere and that’s also an engineering problem. Some gutters are so tiny and they’re also not covered, so if it rains heavily, it will definitely cause flooding,” he said.
Although Kwaw Kese accepted that human actions have aggravated the situation, including construction on waterways and indiscriminate waste disposal, he maintained that those factors should not overshadow infrastructure failures.
“Though people are building in waterways, which we have to deal with. People are throwing their rubbish into gutters because they don’t have where to throw it due to poor sanitation. Let’s talk about all these things and not take some out. We can’t factor our problems on just one issue,” he noted.
He concluded by warning against making mass demolitions the centrepiece of flood control efforts, arguing that such a move would affect vast parts of the capital. Instead, he called for practical and modern solutions to tackle the problem.
“If we say we want to break houses, we will break the whole Accra because everywhere is a waterway. Let’s use modern strategies because Ghanaians are suffering,” Kwaw Kese stated.
Watch what he said below.
