Ashaiman MP calls for support for NADMO

Ernest Henry Norgbey, Member of Parliament for Ashaiman Constituency has decried the ability and preparedness of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) to tackle disasters as the rainy season sets in.

Making a statement at the floor of parliament Wednesday this week, Hon. Norgbey stated that the challenges the organization has encountered in living up to its core mandate has raised doubts about its preparedness towards the management of disasters.

“Mr Speaker, consider the mother of all disasters that happened on June 3, 2015. The disaster is almost two years, yet, it will forever be talked about, not because we enjoy talking, rather the nation was hit hard by the magnitude of that disaster”.

He continued “Ghana lost about 200 people; several individuals who survived the flood-fire disaster lost their homes and properties. Widows, widowers, and orphans were on the rise, the entire nation was engulfed in grief”.

He said the nation cannot even ascertain the exact figure because days after the disaster, dead bodies, some burnt beyond recognition were found in drains and sewers, saying it was such a horrific incident.

Norgbey said, as a discerning nation we have drawn lessons from other related disasters such as the May 9 disaster which was poorly managed; the Melcom disaster which saw the importation of sniffer dogs from Israel to rescue victims; the annual spillage of the Bagre Dam which years on end cause floods and from the June 3 flood-fire disaster.

Touching on the NADMO Bill, he said on July 28th 2016, a bill was passed by the house, went through presidential approval and now NADMO is running on the new Act, 927.

“The Act, among other things, grants the organisation 3% share of the District Assemblies Common Fund to be paid into the Disaster Fund. The new Act also grants the organisation some powers that will help in its functions,” he pointed.

Sadly however, he said the act is still not being implemented for no apparent reason.

“Mr. Speaker, the rains, its associated floods and accompanied risks are here again; however the new Act is yet to be fully implemented”.

According to Norgbey, institutions that have been charged to provide Disaster Management Emergency Response, particularly NADMO, will once again mix and miss the point and come up with all manner of excuses because the organisation has not seen the full implementation of the new Act.

Touching on challenges facing the organization, he said NADMO has a solid structure which when adequately resourced can support not only victims of disaster but also complement the nation’s efforts in fighting the galamsey menace, reconstruction of our lands and water bodies as well as create employment for the teeming unemployed youth of this country.

“Another major challenge faced by NADMO is the allocation of adequate budget to the organisation. The budgetary allocation of the organisation is always slashed such that by the time it travels from the offices of the national, regional through to the district and to the zonal levels, the allocation cannot be used to run any projected activity,” he stated.

Again, he said a lot of district and zonal staff have no offices to operate from. Currently NADMO owes suppliers over thirty-five million Ghana Cedis, inadequate logistics for effective and timely response to disasters, unpaid salary arrears, the challenges are overwhelming.

He therefore called for support for NADMO, to face any disaster squarely and help in other policies of national development, saying it should be armed with the expertise to do more than just distribute relief items in the event of a disaster.