Soggy, boggy, rainy, wet, deluge… can you sense a theme here?

It has been pouring for a long time now. Ghana’s “official” rainy season begins in June and continues through September, generally. Some years, the rain is just a bit of a drizzle or a quick spritz here and there and it’s finished. Hardly enough to write home about. This year, I’m writing home.

The heavy deluge over the past week or so has been more than just an inconvenience to some of us trying to dry laundry on a clothes line. It has been deadly and destructive. Flooding in parts of Accra has caused the deaths of 7 people in the Kaneshie area, one primarily known for its huge marketplace.

I’ve seen the flooding in that area firsthand, when we lived in Mataheko. Traveling on the main road just past the Obetsebi-Lamptey circle, the flood waters came up over the curbs of the street, over the steps of the shops and into the buildings. People were wading in filthy water up to and over their knees. Cars were stalled or crawling through the standing water. Some cars were even carried away by the flooding water; a not-so-funny game of bumper-cars ensued.

Why does this happen every rainy season? I haven’t lived in Mataheko in more than 3 years, and still this is happening? Because there is no city-wide drainage system here. Open gutters are still the norm, and people throw their trash right into them.

We drove through Teshie the other day, not half an hour after a huge thunderstorm, trying our best to avoid the ever worsening rain-filled pot holes (Sly claimed that one of them was actually a well, not a pot hole) that threaten the undercarriage of every vehicle. As we drove, we saw several young boys – 8 or 9 years old – shoveling out the silt from a gutter that was choked. The garbage was snagged beneath a homemade driveway and they were trying to unblock it. I’m not sure if they were aware of the danger but on the other side of that blockage the water was gushing above the gutter. And when I say gutter, I really mean a culvert; these boys were in this culvert and I could only see their upper torso. If the water started flowing, they’d be thrown off their feet from the force. To where? The ocean? Hope they all know how to swim, but I doubt it.

Why are there no drains, you wonder? Because, the government says, there’s no money for them. Yet the government is somehow managing to find $50,000 to give to each and every minister of parliament for a new car. Sure, it’s a loan. And they’ll all repay it, right? What about that car loan they all got 4 years ago? I remember seeing loads of MPs (one who happens to be quasi-related) tooling around in their brand-new SUVs. I'm betting cedis to cassava those loans haven't been repaid. So what happened? Their debt was forgiven. Lucky ministers. Now they’ve all got an old “free” car and a new "soon-to-be free” car on the way.

One minister had the nerve to suggest that all MPs needed, not just a single new car, but maybe even 3 new cars! I can see a minister from the northern region -- maybe somewhere up near Paga -- needing an SUV, but really, the minister of East Legon? Come on.

Just check out the comments following that!

And really, why $50,000? Aren't there any SUV's cheaper than that?

There's more than 200 ministers... you do the math. But that money could surely be better spent on roads or healthcare. Hey, how about adding glucose strips to the NHIS coverage? That'd be really nice. And cost no where near $50,000.

Okay, done venting.

There’s no one to blame about the rain though. Mother Nature, I guess. But, like all mothers, she does what she wants when she wants. I just wish she’d be more like me... a bit of a push-over when her kids beg for something.

Just in case she’s listening…

Mother Nature, please, I’m begging you. A single full day of sunshine, just so I can dry my clothes and my sinuses, that’s all I’m asking.

I promise, I’ll be good.