GUEST CONTRIBUTOR EKOW: Ghana Is On Fire!

In the country where I live we are known to be very reactive…never proactive. We only make useful noise when we are hit by an accident or disaster. A week or two after that, we go back to our normal lives and wait for another disaster. In most cases we set up disaster investigative committees to find the cause of the disasters and find the way forward. Believe you me, nothing good comes out from these committees. A case in point in the recent Melcom building collapse. What happened to all the noise we made?

Today we are crying over the infernos that are hitting our markets and already coming up with lots of conspiracy theories about why we are having these fires. What next should we expect as the rainy season approaches? Are we also ready in the unlikely event of an oil spillage? Are we going to fold our arms and wait for disasters (both natural and man made) to destroy property and kill humans before we act? Can we for once as a nation be proactive?

Disasters are almost always unpredictable. It is important for any government to manage disasters. Government provides legislation, allocates resources and does rational planning and sustainable development. Disaster management and planning is a key part of government work. Disasters are inevitable although we do not always know when and where they will happen. But their worst effects can be partially or completely prevented by preparation, early warning, and swift, decisive responses. Floods mostly happens in valleys and flood plains, droughts in areas with unstable and low rainfall, fire outbreaks also in poor areas and informal settlements and oil spills happen in shipping lanes. This know-how provides opportunities to plan for, prevent and to lessen the impact of disasters.

It’s been long over due for the government to fully implement a disaster management policy and legislation and impress upon the MMDA’s to have a disaster management plan. This plan must set up the structure and mechanisms for dealing with disasters and it must anticipate future disasters. Plans must be developed to deal with disasters that occur regularly – for example flooding of informal settlements.

Are we waiting for the Flag Staff House to be on fire before we know there’s a problem? Misery and hopelessness is already killing us as a nation….let’s not add the extra depression effects of disasters bring