Atta Mills Visits Flood Disaster Sites

NDC Presidential Candidate, John Evans Atta Mills, over the weekend, apart from donating cash and food items, visited the various communities in the Upper East and Northern Regions that have been most affected adversely by the recent torrential rains.

Professor Mills, who immediately the flooding began, dispatched the NDC MP?s in the affected areas to go up country as an advance team, was present in the Upper East and Northern Regions as a result of the assessment of the situation by the MPs.

Speaking to the media, the NDC Presidential Candidate said that the Upper East Region (most hit by the floods) was one of the strongest backbones of the NDC hence his presence in the Region to share in the calamity that had befallen the people and also to see for himself the extent of damage so as to be able to share with government ways that would help manage the situation.

?This Region has been very loyal to the NDC and so it is of concern to me and the party when our people are affected by such natural disasters. When a region gives you nine out of 13 seats, that region must be close to your heart? Atta Mills said.

?But let me add that even if this region gave the NDC only one seat, I would still have been here because disasters do not discriminate along partisan lines and such things happen, Ghana and Ghanaians are the first things we should consider before anything else? the NDC Presidential Candidate added as a proviso.

On Saturday, September 24, 2007, Professor Mills visited parts of Bongo, Tongo, Nabdam, Zebilla, Binduri, Bawku, Pusiga, Kulungugu, Timpane and Garu to acquaint himself with the extent of devastation in those areas.

At Bawku, Professor Mills visited the Azorka Dam which burst it seams, and was shown round by Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, who together with the people of Bawku, have used sandbags to build a temporary protective shield for the dam.

At Kulungugu, the NDC Presidential Candidate spent time with the Highways engineers who were working on sections of the collapsed bridge linking Kulungugu to Burkina Faso.

Kulungugu is where the UP elements tried one of their numerous murderous attempts on the life of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, when, they placed a bomb in a bouquet, killing an innocent school girl in the process.

Indeed, the shrapnel from that bomb explosion, led eventually to the death of the great Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah.

Sunday, September 23, 2007, saw the Leader of the NDC visiting parts of, Chana, Paga, Navrongo, Saandema, Fumbisi and Yagaba (Overseas), which is in the Northern Region.

At Overseas in particular, where it was raining at the time Professor Mills and his entourage arrived, it was quite obvious that for the barley bridges that were constructed during the time of the NDC, that part of the country would have been cut off by the rains.

Indeed, the place is called Overseas because of the way it is virtually ?isolated? from the rest of the country.

The NDC Presidential Candidate, wherever he went, called on the chiefs and Leaders of the communities and commiserated with them.

The various chiefs and the communities they head, were very appreciative of the extensive visit of Atta Mills, and they thanked the learned professor for his show of concern and the warmth he provided with his visit.

?Your show of concern in these hard times means a lot to us and we would also make sure that when the time comes, we also show our concern for you by the way we use our thumbs? was how one extremely influential paramount chief put it.

The visits to the various palaces, turned out to be rallies because of the presence of the man who from all intents and purposes, would be the next Leader of Ghana.

Professor Mills for the days that he toured the two regions, was accompanied by, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Hon Moses Asaga, Hon Abuga Pele, Hon Mahama Ayariga, Hon Pangabu, (NDC MP for the Ejura Constituency in the Ashanti Region), and the Upper East NDC Executives.