Government doesn’t care about floods - Sampson Ahi

The Akufo-Addo-led government does not see the recurrence of floods in Accra as a problem hence its failure to commit more resources to the Ministry of Works and Housing to deal with the problem, Bodi MP Sampson Ahi has said.

According to him, the government’s unwillingness to address issues of flooding was highlighted in the national budget presented to parliament by the Finance Minister.

He explained that the Minister of Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, recently told parliament the Ministry needed $700 million to deal with the situation in the country, however, the government had earmarked a meagre GHS610,000 to the sector to deal with problem. This amount, he said, was woefully inadequate.

Speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra100.5FM on Tuesday March 28, Mr Ahi, who is also a former Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing in the John Mahama administration, said: “Clearly the government is not seeing flooding as a major problem in the country.”

“Not long ago, his minister Atta Akyea came to parliament demanding $700 million to deal with flooding in Accra but the government gave only GHS610,000 to him. How can he do the work with this amount?

“For me, this shows that the government is not interested in solving the flooding situation.”

Meanwhile, Ismael Ashitey, Greater Accra Regional Minister, has said several measures have been put in place by the government to mitigate the effects of flooding in the capital city, Accra.

According to him, in order to deal with the perennial flooding of the city, there was the need to construct good drains, hence a contract has been awarded to DredgeMaster, a construction firm, to dredge Accra’s major drains.

Speaking in interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra100.5FM on Tuesday March 28, Mr Ashitey said: “The government is doing its best to avert flooding in the city. We don’t know how heavy the rains will be this year, but on our part as humans we are doing what is necessary to mitigate the effects.

“As the saying goes, man proposes, God disposes, and so we have done our part by dredging the drains.

“We need to construct the drains; that is the only way we can deal with the flooding situation completely.”