Glefe Lagoon – A dying ecosystem, a dying community

 The once vibrant and life-sustaining Glefe Lagoon, located in the Ablekuma West Municipality of the Greater Accra Region, is now in a state of tragic neglect and decay.

Although a natural resource that once supported aquatic life, served as a source of livelihood, and provided food security to lo­cal communities, the lagoon has now degenerated into a sprawl­ing, open refuse dump.

The channel of the once pristine fresh water source is entirely overgrown with weeds, and its basin now piled high with garbage and the stench that hangs in the air is unbearable, with the ecosystem suffocated into silence.

What was once a thriving wa­ter body is now biologically dead and its catastrophe is not merely environmental, but is profoundly social and economic.

As Nii Allotey, a local fisher­man, narrates the lagoon was the heart of the community, offering jobs, nutrition, and identity, how­ever, today, residents like him are watching helplessly as their source of sustenance turns into a health hazard.

Children, rather than attend­ing school, loiter around the polluted lagoon, scavenging or assisting in dumping refuse. Local businesses are collapsing as customers flee the choking smell.

The root of this environmen­tal crisis is clear: years of un­checked human encroachment, a dysfunctional waste management system, and a glaring lack of policy enforcement.

For us on The Ghanaian Times, it is incomprehensible that in this age, household waste contin­ues to be dumped directly into a critical water body by tricycle operators due to the absence of a structured waste processing system.

We are even more troubled because the situation is not limit­ed to the Glefe Lagoon. It is im­portant to emphasise that nearly all lagoons in the national capital have either suffered similar fate or are suffering same.

The questions that arise are: how did we get here?, what hap­pened to the age old tradition which designated such water bodies as sacred entities that must not be desecrated? And why have duty bearers neglected the protection of such national assets?

While we acknowledge the statement by Mr Samuel Tete, the Municipal Environmental Health Officer, and the briefing of the newly appointed Mu­nicipal Chief Executive, mere acknowledgment of the problem is no longer enough.

The time for speeches and stakeholder meetings has long passed. What the Glefe Lagoon needs now is urgent, visible, and sustainable action.

The Assembly must, as a matter of priority, implement a comprehensive clean-up exercise and establish strict controls on waste disposal.

We also believe that en­croached areas must be re­claimed and development halted. Furthermore, a community-led surveillance and reporting sys­tem, supported by bylaws with real consequences, should be instituted immediately.

Beyond local governance, we urge the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, the Envi­ronmental Protection Agency, and relevant NGOs to treat the restoration of the Glefe Lagoon as a national environmental emergency.

If a coordinated response is not mobilised now, we risk losing not only a vital ecosys­tem but an entire community’s future.

We believe that the story of the Glefe Lagoon must serve as a wake-up call—not just for Ablekuma West, but for every municipality grappling with ur­ban pollution and environmental mismanagement.

Our water bodies are not dumping grounds. They are lifelines and we must not forget that!