In the early morning haze of Accra, 65-year-old Naa Ajele steps out of her home in Glefe, a coastal community near the Densu Delta. She walks cautiously along what was once a natural drainage path—now buried under concrete.
Not long ago, mangroves thrived here, home to herons, fish, and the occasional crocodile. Today, her feet sink into black, stagnant water that floods her compound every rainy season.
“Ten years ago, the birds sang louder than the cars,” she says, staring at rows of freshly built houses sprouting like mushrooms in the swamp.
Across Accra, wetlands and watersheds—once vital ecosystems—are vanishing under the bulldozers of unregulated development. The wetlands of Sakumono, Ramsar-protected but poorly enforced, have become an open target for private estate developers and unscrupulous investors.
What was meant to be preserved as a buffer against flooding and pollution is now a grid of luxury homes, shopping complexes, and concrete driveways.
The Densu Delta, which feeds Accra’s vital Weija Dam and supports hundreds of fisherfolk, is shrinking fast.
Developers have moved in with impunity, emboldened by weak zoning laws and complicit silence from authorities. Drainage routes have been blocked, wetlands sand-filled, and trees felled without permits. Bulldozers roar where frogs once croaked.
The effects are devastating.
Flash floods, once rare, have become routine. In June 2023, a two-hour downpour left parts of Kaneshie, Labadi, and Dansoman submerged.
Homes were destroyed. Families displaced. The city’s drainage system—already strained—was overwhelmed by stormwater that the natural wetlands would have absorbed.
“I warned them,” says Kofi Boateng, a retired hydrologist. “If you block a river’s path, it will find a new one—usually through your living room.”
Environmental groups have raised alarms, but their voices often drown in the noise of profit.
Developers point to housing shortages and job creation. But residents wonder—at what cost?
A recent study by the University of Ghana revealed that Accra has lost over 60% of its wetlands in the last 20 years.
Pollution of watersheds has led to lower fish stocks and unsafe drinking water in several communities.
The city’s resilience against climate change is eroding with every bag of sand dumped into a marsh.
On the 18th of May 2025, which was a Sunday, hours of rain came, and many houses submerged again, and the lamentations were the same on the virtual space, Radio and TV.
Naa Ajele looks at the horizon, now filled with cranes and scaffolding. “They promised us development. All I see is destruction.”
Until Ghana prioritizes sustainable planning over short-term profits, Accra’s wetlands may soon be nothing more than a memory—and its floods a permanent fixture of life.
Story by RSM Kofi Doe Lawson