Accra Floods Linked to Human Indiscipline, Not Drainage Failures – Ing. Abdulai Mahama

Road and Building Consultant, Ing. Abdulai Mahama, has attributed Accra’s perennial flooding largely to indiscipline among residents rather than poor drainage design or substandard road construction.

His comments come in the wake of recent heavy rains that caused flooding in parts of the capital, leaving some residents stranded and others displaced from their homes.

Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Saturday, May 30, Ing. Mahama dismissed the widely held view that Accra’s drainage systems are inherently flawed.

“I would like to debunk one thing about the drainage. It’s been a mantra among Ghanaians that the drains are not designed well. There’s no particular design concept for Ghana’s drains. It is the indiscipline,” he said.

According to him, many roads and drainage systems function effectively for years after construction, only for flooding problems to emerge later due to human activities that obstruct the natural flow of water.

“How come we have roads, and for five years after the construction, there’s no flooding? For instance, the N1, from Dimples to Tetteh Quarshie, seven years ago, there was no flooding, but suddenly there’s flooding,” he stated.

Ing. Mahama argued that such developments point to external factors rather than engineering failures.

“There’s a root cause behind it; maybe somebody has obstructed the stream of flow. It can’t be that the engineers didn’t do what is right,” he added.

His remarks add to the ongoing debate over the causes of recurring floods in Accra, with experts and policymakers continuing to assess the role of drainage infrastructure, urban development, and human behaviour in the city’s flood challenges.