Government to institute policy guidelines to avert disasters

Government is soon to institute an extensive policy guideline to avert and mitigate the effects of disasters in the country, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced.

Coming on the heels of Saturday evening’s gas explosion at the Atomic Junction near Legon in Accra, killing at least seven persons with as many as 130 others injured, the President said: “It is time these incidents came to a stop in Ghana. We cannot continue with them.”

President Akufo-Addo made the disclosure on Sunday when he joined the congregants of the Tishigu Anglican Church in Tamale to worship, on the third day of his tour of the Northern Region.

Saturday evening’s incident, the third such occurrence in the country this year, lit the skyline in the eastern part of Accra, destroying property and vehicles in and around the Mansco Gas Filling Point at the Atomic Junction, adjacent a Total service station, sending motorists, pedestrians, hawkers, food vendors and residents fleeing for their lives.

The President said: “The gas explosion is one too many. Ghana cannot afford anymore of such incidents. We are going to have to come out with a clear policy on how to prevent such incidents in the future.”

“Cabinet will be meeting on Thursday, October 12, 2017, and, I believe, out of that meeting, the country will know what our programme is, the comprehensive programme we intend to have to bring such incidents to a stop,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo, who was in the Northern Region when the incident occurred, had asked the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawaumia, to ascertain the extent of damage.

He made a passionate plea to industry players “to recognise that we all have to make adjustments to be able to guarantee the safety and security of our people, so these things do not happen again.”

“I need the support and the co-operation of the people of Ghana to make sure that the policies that we will be bringing out succeed, so that such incidents become a thing of the past and not of our future,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo urged the priests and congregation of the Tishigu Anglican Church to “pray for all those who were caught up in the tragedy in Accra yesterday – the dead and the injured people. We pray for their souls, and we pray for their families, that the Almighty will give them comfort and strength in these trying times.”

He further asked the congregants to pray fervently for him and his administration to succeed, saying; “I needed your prayers to get there, and I need even more your prayers to stay there and do a good job for all of us.”

“Pray so that we will look up and look at the Almighty and give off our heart and energy, and give our country a good government that will help lift the people of Ghana up,” he said.