Beyond Rhetoric: Stakeholder Discourse and Urban Flooding in Accra, Ghana, 2015–2025

On June 3, 2015, Ghana experienced a catastrophic twin disaster when torrential rains exceeding 150 millimeters caused severe flooding across Accra, followed by an explosion at a GOIL (Ghana Oil Company) petrol station that claimed between 150 and 250 lives. This study employs systematic content analysis of 42 verified sources spanning 2015–2025 to examine how stakeholders framed disaster causation, attributed responsibility, and constructed narratives about urban vulnerability. Eight major themes emerged: infrastructure inadequacy appearing in 89 % of sources, blame attribution conflicts in 82 %, emergency response challenges in 76 %, urban vulnerability stigmatization in 71 %, climate change marginalization in only 34 %, policy implementation gaps in 68 %, community resilience recognition in 45 %, and institutional coordination failures in 63 %. Academic discourse evolved toward sophisticated structural analysis emphasizing vulnerability production processes, while government discourse remained focused on behavioral factors. May 2025 flooding killed four people, one in Abokobi and three in Adenta, displacing 3,000 exactly ten years after 2015, demonstrating that stated policy commitments failed to translate into improved outcomes. The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) admitted inadequate relief resources, contradicting a decade of capacity-building commitments. Recent research found 52 % of households blame weak enforcement with no rainfall correlation, while other studies found 59 % of flooded zones are deprived communities with formal models systematically underestimating vulnerability. Implementation gaps reflect weak accountability mechanisms, limited institutional capacity, political incentive structures favoring short-term projects, and insufficient civil society monitoring. Emerging partnerships including I-DIEM emphasizing equity-centered approaches and FAO promoting community-based response represent potential transformation directions, though effectiveness depends on sustained commitment and genuine institutional change. Keywords: disaster management, content analysis, urban flooding, Ghana, emergency response, urban vulnerability, institutional accountability