The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has donated GHC2 million to support the over 31,000 displaced persons after excess water was spilled in the Akosombo and Kpong dams.
“Let us be encouraged, Ministry of Finance as a family concerned about what has happened to our brothers and sisters, working with the VRA [Volta River Authority], we have brought something enough of GHS2 million to be able to support the relief that is going on and to thank Ghanaians for the spontaneous response,” Ofori-Atta said in Mepe in the Volta Region on Friday (27 October).
Staff of the Finance Ministry also donated an amount of GHC50,000 towards the same cause.
“Clearly, we are also prepared in terms of safe havens that had been put in place. So, we are looking forward to supporting immediately as people have done and also looking long term to make sure that alternatives are provided.
“The issue of returning to homes is not a simple decision because of the issues of health. And so we need to put something into place to have access to capital to ensure that people can construct much faster than otherwise,” he said.
Ofori-Atta gave assurance to the displaced persons that the budget, which is expected to be presented to Parliament in November will contain adequate relief measures.
Crops have been destroyed, schools shut and the economy has come to a standstill in Mepe – the epicentre in the Volta Region – and parts of the Eastern and Greater Accra regions after the dams overflowed at Akosombo and Kpong.
The Volta River Authority (VRA) – operators of the dam – has provided mobile toilets and working with the Ghana Health Service to treat displaced persons in mobile clinics. Fourteen of the mobile toilets have been sent to Mepe and 10 to Adidome in North Tongu and the water supply system has been restored to the Aveyime community.
The additional toilets are to help ease pressure on the toilet facilities in the safe havens. The mobile toilets are equipped with biodegrading units to aid in the control of cross-contamination. VRA said more toilet facilities will be made available to the people including the other affected communities across the lower Volta Basin.
So far, in collaboration with NADMO, the VRA has provided relief items, such as canned food, rice, sugar, toiletries, boats, hot meals to the flood victims.
Relocate locals
The Minority in Parliament is urging the government to take immediate action to address the needs of flood disaster victims by relocating them to the Saglemi housing project.
“We have Saglemi sitting idle, the government must ensure that they house the people of these 11 affected communities for this constituency properly. We are suggesting that as a matter of urgency, they can relocate them temporarily to the Saglemi Housing project,” the Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson said during a tour of the flooded communities on Friday (20 October).
President Nana Akufo-Addo has set up a committee to coordinate ongoing rescue efforts.
Ghana’s meteorological service has forecast more rains this year as the West African country experiences a marked increase in the frequency and unpredictability of weather events, amid warnings linked to climate change.
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