On Tuesday, June 15, this year, the state-owned Daily Graphic reported the fencing of the Odaw River behind Beyeeman, along the Graphic Road. The paper did not state whether the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) was the brain behind the fencing of the area, which is meant to ward off scrap dealers who have taken over the place.
The Chronicle is, however, learning from independent sources that the idea for fencing the Odaw River is to turn it into a tourist site. If this is really the idea behind the walling of the river, those behind it must be congratulated. The Odaw River is, indeed, a potential gold mine that has been destroyed.
In London, Berlin and other capital cities of the western countries, rivers passing through residential areas are a major means of transportation. Day in and day out, hundreds of people, including workers and tourists, are ferried from one end of these rivers to the other, raking in substantial revenue for national development. We could have also done same to our Odaw River, but this is not the case.
We have, instead, heavily polluted the river, to the extent that its aquatic life has been destroyed. Unfortunately, this was not the situation back in the 1960s and 70s. In those days, it was common to see fishermen fishing in the river, especially, around the Kwame Nkrumah Circle area.
Though we agree with the school of thought that population explosion has accounted for the current sorry state of the river, in our view, lack of proper supervision by the AMA must take the chunk of the blame.
It is trite knowledge that homeless people living in and around the Kwame Nkrumah Circle defecate into the river without blinking their eyes. Is the AMA saying that they do not know this? Also, when mechanics and dealers in e-waste started using the banks of the river as their place of abode and work, did the AMA not see them?
The Chronicle is saddened that our leaders travel all over the world at the expense of the state and see how river bodies in advanced countries have been turned into tourist sites, yet they come back home to see people polluting the Odaw River without doing anything about it. This shortcoming notwithstanding, The Chronicle is happy that a move is now being made to secure the banks of the river and prevent it from being polluted.
Whilst commending whoever is behind this idea of fencing the river, we do not think executing the project downstream alone will restore the river to its normal state. If the upstream and all the tributaries are equally not protected against pollution, the work being done in the Graphic Road area will come to naught.
In the Nima and Alajo areas, people throw all manner of waste materials, including human excreta, into the river, which has been turned into a big gutter/drain.
Similarly, the gutter originating from Abeka through Tesano to join the Odaw River has been turned into places of convenience, where people line up each passing day to defecate.
Since all these waste materials will come to congregate at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Graphic Road area, there is no way water in the river will be clean to merit the river transport that is being anticipated. It is based on this that we are suggesting a holistic approach to the protection of the river and not what is being currently done on the Graphic Road, which though is commendable, will not lead to the achievement of the desired result.
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