The Member of Parliament for Sagnarigu and a member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Atta Issah, says the Mahama administration has spent more on actual flood control interventions under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) project in two years than the previous Akufo-Addo government did in five years.
Defending the government’s management of the World Bank-funded project in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story, Mr Issah said the current administration had spent $13.52 million on flood control under GARID between 2025 and 2026, compared to the $11.4 million he said the New Patriotic Party government spent on the same purpose between 2019 and 2024.
He made the remarks while responding to concerns raised in a World Bank report that implementation of the GARID project had been significantly constrained by fiscal controls introduced by the Ministry of Finance in 2025, despite the project being fully financed.
The Sagnarigu MP argued that although the World Bank approved $350 million for Ghana under GARID, the Akufo-Addo government did not prioritise the project’s core flood prevention objective.
He said between 2019 and 2024, the previous government withdrew $103.8 million from the facility, but only $11.4 million, representing 10.9%, was spent on actual flood prevention and mitigation measures.
According to him, $22.1 million of the withdrawals went into training, $7.9 million into consultancy work, while a large chunk was used for Covid-19-related spending. He added that $1.68 million was spent on other costs, largely the purchase of vehicles.
“Out of the $103.8 million that was spent out of the loan, only $11.4 million, only 10.9%, was actually spent on flood prevention and mitigation measures,” he said.
Mr Issah said the current administration spent $3 million on actual flood control under GARID in 2025 and has already released $10.52 million in 2026 for the same purpose, bringing the total to $13.52 million in two years.
“In four to five years, the NPP government spent $11.4 million. The NDC government in two years, we are spending $13.52 million. How on earth can you say that the government is not committed to delivering the mandate as enshrined in the loan facility granted by the World Bank?” he asked.
He urged political actors to stop politicising the perennial flooding problem in Accra and instead focus on supporting efforts to ensure the GARID project delivers lasting solutions.
“I encourage politicians and the political class to limit the politicisation of flooding. This is not the way to go because lives of people have been lost,” he said.
Mr Issah also called for swift action on engineering and structural designs already submitted under the project, insisting that flooding should no longer be allowed to remain an annual tragedy.
“Flooding should not be an annual perennial issue that should claim the lives of our people. We must do everything possible as a government to make sure that this becomes this ecomes the terminal point of it,” he said.
READ ALSO:
National Thanksgiving amid flood tragedy raises concerns – Akosua Manu
June 29 floods: I almost became a victim – Nana Yaa Jantuah calls for more flood safety education
