How I know AMA doesn’t love us back…

Quick notes before the story: 1. On June 3 2015, more than 200 people died in Accra’s perennial flooding. 2. ‘AMA’ here is not used as the popular Akan name given to girls born on Saturday, but rather refers to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly; the political and administrative authority of the city of Accra, Ghana (although, this coincidence makes for a catchy title).

I started working as an intern two months ago. This meant that I had to wake up early in the morning, leave the comfort of my suburban home, and head to my office in the industrial part of Accra. I relished the thought of experiencing the corporate atmosphere to see if I should be expecting any of the antics and hard-bluff lifestyle that I see in Suits when eventually I land myself a real job. I was also looking to get a taste of what life in the city was really like. After all, I considered myself to be an original dadaba (sheltered child) and that it was high time I learnt how to live in the city and earned enough to buy myself something that I could eat with the golden spoon in my mouth. However, two weeks of working and trekking through Accra each morning proved to be ample time to reflect on my expectations and realize exactly how deluded I was. Corporate life is BORING! And I have come to understand that being a dadaba will not yield anyone any thrills when he/she enters town. All I was, in fact, was a real life version of Sheep in the Big City, paranoid from getting lost, pick-pocketed or robbed at knife point.

Once I got over the disappointments of having deluded myself, I started observing and thinking about the people who actually lived in the Central Business District of Accra. These people are mostly hawkers and manual laborers who earn just enough to cater for themselves and their kids on a hand-to-mouth basis. As I walked the streets each morning, clutching tightly to my golden dadaba spoon, I noticed how deplorably these people lived. Their children lay on the streets to do their homework at the mercy of deadly pathogens that probably cause cholera or haven’t even been discovered yet. Worst of all, they converted makeshift kiosks from which some transacted their daily business, into truly humble abodes and shared those spaces with about 3 or 4 other families. If the sanitary conditions of living like that are not bad enough, think of the psychological strain that these people have to face everyday. In short, life is extremely tough for them.

However, despite their resourcefulness, it must be said that most of the places they constructed their structures on were inappropriate at best and downright illegal at worst. They built on areas marked out as waterways, flood prone areas and even on the curbs of busy roads and highways. Hell, some of them even filled parts of the city’s main drainage system, the Odaw River, with sawdust and silt so that they could have ‘land’ to build on. Despite the fact that they needed shelter, their actions posed a significant hazard to all people living in Accra. And when the rains came down in June, after areas flooded and many lives were lost, their building in unauthorized areas was highlighted as a significant factor that led to the disaster. As such, a major demolishing exercise was embarked on by the AMA to remove all unauthorized buildings in Accra in order to free up the waterways and prevent future flooding. It was sad to see people wail over the loss of their homes and sources of livelihood. I really felt for them as I watched the AMA’s machines ruthlessly bulldoze through these structures. But then, this had to be done. The innocent taxpaying lives that are at risk of flooding each year deserve to have these hazards removed. Coming to think about it, its pretty obvious that they had this coming to them when they built in the waterways and that the AMA should actually be lauded for taking such a bold step and demolishing these structures. The AMA’s decisions and actions are just and the pain they caused was a necessary evil. Right?

Well, yes. The AMA’s decision to demolish those structures was absolutely just. After all, ignorance of the law has never been an excuse. But when it comes to the question of whether the AMA should be lauded for how they carried the demolishing exercise out, the answer from anyone who has a sense of morality would be a resounding “NO!” This is where the trouble comes in. The demolishing exercise was embarked on as a reaction to the outcry that the public gave out to the flooding that claimed so many people’s lives. The deaths were unnecessary and would have been avoided if we had been more diligent as a people. Indiscriminate littering and yes, building on waterways are the very things that led to the disaster. As such, the AMA’s actions were to prevent such a disaster from ever happening again. At the heart of this exercise was the AMA’s genuine care for the lives of all of Accra’s inhabitants, isn’t it? Well, that is what we would like to think. But after observing how they carried out the exercise, I can definitely reiterate that the AMA shouldn’t be lauded just because they carried out the demolishing exercise.

My first and biggest problem with the way the AMA conducted this demolishing is that, after pulling down the unauthorized structures in and around the city, they made zero effort to clear the rubble that was left as a result. You see, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that even though the AMA pulled down the buildings, the waterways were still BLOCKED with all the rubble! Initially, I thought that the exercise was being carried out in phases and that the AMA would eventually send its workers to properly dispose of the remnants of their demolishing exercise. But more than 4 weeks later, the rubble is still lying there. If the passage ways are still blocked, how are the residents of Accra any safer? The cheek of it all is that every Tom, Dick and Kwesi knows that the rainy season is far from over. Should there be any torrential rainfall, the effects are bound to be far worse than what happened in June. Because the charging waters would be filled with debris moving at such force that even if anyone caught in the floods were to resist the force of the current and try wading to safety, he/she would be impaled and injured by the debris.

What hurts me the most is that, these people who have been displaced are the ones who are faced with the most risk. Most of them now have to made due with living on the streets. This makes them particularly prone to being taken away by any flooding which is bound to happen the moment it starts to rain since the AMA has left the waterways still blocked with rubble. Another thing that makes me resent the AMA more for this demolishing exercise is that most of these people had been paying monies to AMA officials for permits and property tax on their now-labeled unauthorized structures, prior to the flooding incident. I wonder whether the AMA officials cared about whether the waterways were free in the first place until people died in the floods and they were queried as to whether they were doing their jobs or not.

This is what makes me question if the AMA truly cares about the lives of the people living in Accra. Honestly, if they really cared about the lives of all people in the city, including those people who have now been displaced, they would have put in effort to clear the rubble as soon as they demolished the structures. They would have done it to make sure that the problem was truly solved once and for all. It seems to me as though the demolishing exercise was just a sham embarked on to make people think that AMA was doing ‘something’ about the problem. Truth be told, they have done nothing but remold the problem. They have caused so much harm and pain to the people who were living in those unauthorized structures and yet the risk of flooding in Accra to its inhabitants has not been reduced. Should there be a recurrence of flooding in Accra, I will not blame the people who have built in waterways. I will not blame those who litter indiscriminately. I would blame the AMA. Because taxpayers know that in the interim, those who litter will litter and those who build in waterways will build in waterways. As such, we supply the AMA with funds to ensure that these factors and hazards are mitigated. However, they sit on the funds, do a lackadaisical job, and even go to the extent of facilitating those who build on waterways to do so by giving them permits. We pay taxes to the government with love for our nation. However, some of the government agencies that have been established don’t use those funds as though they love the nation. We are the nation and as such, I can say with all certainty that the AMA doesn’t love us back.