The Accra Floods: Whiles we build a new city, let’s fix the one we have

Technical institutions, including the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), working alongside government technocrats, are well placed to produce a rigorous blueprint that serves both ambitions at once; realising the President's vision for a new city, while modernising the one we already have.

But it is a clear signal that a new city cannot be the thing standing between residents and relief from the next flood; it arrives on its own long timeline, and the old city needs its own, much shorter one running alongside it.

The most useful complement to the President's long-term vision is an immediate, parallel programme to modernise the city we already have — so that when the new city does arrive, it inherits a well-functioning Accra rather than a deferred problem.