I am pleased to share my paper on Ghana’s recent tidal wave disaster in early 2025 and the troubling narrative of national disaster preparedness and management.
The publication of this paper comes at a critical juncture in Ghana’s ongoing struggle with environmental and infrastructure challenges. As communities along Ghana’s 550-kilometer coastline face increasingly severe tidal wave events and inland regions recover from the devastating Akosombo Dam spillage of 2023, the wisdom in Benjamin Franklin’s observation that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” has never been more relevant to our national discourse.
This comprehensive analysis examines how delayed action and fragmented responses have significantly increased the human and financial costs of these disasters.
The paper documents how implementation delays for the Blekusu Sea Defence Project increased costs by over 60% while leaving thousands of citizens vulnerable to displacement. Similarly, the Akosombo Dam spillage analysis reveals how inadequate early warning systems and coordination failures magnified the disaster’s impact on nearly 40,000 people across multiple districts.
The recently announced budget allocations of GHS200 million for tidal wave victims and GHS242.5 million for Akosombo Dam spillage victims underscore the substantial financial burden that reactive approaches impose on national resources—funds that could have been directed toward preventative infrastructure and more comprehensive resilience strategies.
Franklin’s 18th-century wisdom remains profoundly applicable today: Investing in prevention through integrated coastal protection, early warning systems, and economic diversification would not only save significant resources but also preserve irreplaceable cultural heritage, community cohesion, and human lives. As climate change accelerates the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, the cost of inaction will only grow more severe.
This paper aims to catalyse urgent, coordinated action among government agencies, local communities, and international partners to implement the recommended framework of immediate, medium-term, and long-term interventions.
The future of Ghana’s coastal communities—and, indeed, the nation’s approach to disaster resilience—depends on our collective willingness to prioritise prevention over cure.
Click here to read the full paper by Col. (rtd) Festus Aboagye
The author of this piece is Col. Festus Aboagye. He is a retired military officer and a security expert.
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