Agalga to query Interior Minister on National Disaster Fund

Mr James Agalga, MP for Builsa North, Ranking Member on the Committee of Defence and Interior of Parliament is poised to query the Government over the delay in operationalising the Disaster Management Fund.

The Fund is meant to equip the National Disaster Management Organisation with enough resources to cater for disaster victims.

His proposed query, has now been admitted by the Parliament of Ghana, and barring any interference, Mr Agalga, would on Wednesday, 30th October, 2019, “ask the Minister of Interior when the Government will set up the National Disaster Fund,” provided for under the National Disaster Management Organisation Act 2016 (Act 927) to deal with disasters.

The act, in a progressive manner provided for the establishment of the National Disaster Management Fund to provide the needed financial resources for the development and operation of disaster prevention, disaster risk reduction and climate change risk reduction.

Mr Agalga held a News conference on Tuesday, the day the House of Parliament resumed from recess, and complained on why the question, filed for some time had not found space in the Business for the first week.

He then threatened to use other avenues to get heard on his advocacy on Government to get the fund started and equipped adequately.

The zeal of the Ranking Member to get the fund operationalised stemmed from recent floods in Northern Ghana affecting Builsa North, Talensi, Kasena Nankani East, Binduri, Nandom, Wa West, West and East Gonja, Tolon, Kumbungu, West and East Namprusi, among others, claiming a number of lives and destroying large tracts of farms and other valuables. .

Mr Agalga said the destruction had become an annual affair which resulted in the loss of lives, destruction of thousands of hectares of farmlands and varieties of crops and livestock in a manner that is preventable.

He said the then John Mahama Administration was mindful of the critical role of NADMO and therefore, took steps to re-enact the National Disaster Management Organisation Act, 2016, Act 927.

However, the fund is yet to be established notwithstanding the poor state of finances of NADMO.

Mr Agalga said aid from the Government came in a little too late, and appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to operationalise the fund to enable NADMO execute its mandate that include; disaster prevention and disaster risk reduction.

“It is also time for Ghana and Burkina Faso to work closely to ensure that the Volta Basin Authority, created in 2006 to manage in a holistic manner the water resources in the Volta River Basin, and shared by the two countries, is effective in order to prevent potential conflict.”

Mr Agalga, who is also a former Deputy Minister for the Interior, would query the Minister of the Interior, when the Government of Ghana would implement the National Migration Policy which came into for in 2016.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, who was not in the House to answer some questions related to the Ministry, was scheduled again to appear in the House.

She, or her deputy who were not available, for which no formal communication was made to the House by the Chief Director of that Ministry provoked the anger of Rev Prof Aaron Oquaye, in the first week of the meeting, making the Speaking to suspend sitting for the day.

Mr Frank Annor-Dompreh, MP for Nsawam Adoagyiri, would elicit response from the Minister on “when the contractor involved in the re-stocking of selected dams and dugouts with four million catfish and fingerlings would be paid accordingly.”

According to the Business Statement for next week, Mr Annoh-Dompreh would also ask the Minister “what steps are being implemented to ultimately ensure that there is a waiver of tax on aquaculture input materials to boost the industry.”

There would also be presentation and laying of papers on relevant matters and sectors of the national political, economic and social issues.