The Social Enterprise Development Foundation of West Africa (SEND) Ghana has accused government of neglecting the 3 northern regions in the wake of a devastating twin occurrence—the spillage of bagre dam and weeks of torrential downpour—which has killed at least 8 people with over 100.000 rendered homeless.
The destruction from the twin occurrence in the 3 northern regions is gradually getting out of control as the number of displaced persons increase leaving regional authorities overwhelmed, helpless and lamenting the slow response to urgent call for help.
“So far there has been no significant response on the part of government. In some districts, you had DCEs going around to assess the situation but in terms of response to actually send reliefs to the community and affected citizens that really hasn’t happened,” Mumuni Mohammed, SEND Ghana’s team leader for the Northern and Upper East Regions told Starr Today’s Naa Dedei Tetteh.
He continued: “Honestly speaking, this was expected. Floods have been with us for so many years now but our disaster preparedness has been very weak. Ahead of time what did we do? This is the time at the national level they are thinking about what kind of support they can mobilise and send to the districts. And, so, before now those supports should have been at the districts. And so, immediately they [floods] happen then they take steps to move directly to the communities.
“But right now at the District levels and regional, they are still waiting for a national response. We knew about this. What have we done so far? Every district we have NADMO, apart from raising awareness that people should relocate there has not been any deliberate attempt by government to respond as soon as it happens. Government commitment in this regard has been weak because this has been with us for ages. How long can we continue to deal with the issue based on kneejerk reaction?”
“Government hasn’t really demonstrated any serious commitment to dealing with this issue,” he added.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
