Amend NADMO law - Portuphy

Accra, June 23, GNA - Mr Kofi Portuphy, the National Co-coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), on Tuesday called for the amendment of Act 517 establishing the organization to make it more effective and relevant.

"It has been more than 10 years and NADMO needs some legal empowerment, establishment of a Disaster Fund and governing council to strengthen the activities of NADMO," he said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

Explaining further, Mr Portuphy said, the legal empowerment would give legal support to the organization to check developers whose activities did not comply with building regulations. Touching on the establishment of a Disaster Fund, Mr Portuphy said this would make funds more readily available for use when the need arose.

Mr Portuphy said the amendment of the Act would help strengthen NADMO to enforce some development provisions which some people flouted. He urged Ghanaians to insure their houses and other belongings as guarantee against damage, saying this would make it easy for compensation for victims of floods and other related disasters. Mr Portuphy appealed to Ghanaians to stop building on waterways and putting kiosks and containers on drains saying they would do anything within their means to prevent them from bringing these kiosks and containers back to block drains and water channels. He said even though NADMO did not have enough logistics, it would not stop them from doing their work.

Giving details on the post-disaster recovery, Mr Portuphy said NADMO had set up a task force to clear the debris and distil the drains. He said NADMO was screening affected areas against diarrhoea and other water borne diseases, as well as malaria and had distributed mosquito nets and other items such as food and blankets to the victims. Mr Portuphy said NADMO was repairing broken water pipe, electricity and telephone lines, which were destroyed during the floods in collaboration with the appropriates utility providers.