Kufuor inaugurates Taskforce to oversee relief items

Accra, Sept. 14, GNA - A high-powered Inter-Ministerial Taskforce to oversee relief items distribution and the restoration of damaged infrastructure in the three Northern Regions and parts of the Western Region, following the recent floods, was on Friday inaugurated by President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu. Mrs Mary Chinery Hessey, Advisor to the President, chairs the Taskforce, whose membership includes the Ministers of Interior; Defence; National Security; Information and National Orientation; Finance; Local Government; Water Resources, Works and Housing; Transport; Health and Agriculture.

President Kufuor asked them to co-ordinate all activities in a fair, transparent and accountable manner to bring comfort and assurance to the affected communities.

He called for the active involvement of all key stakeholder groups and communities in the making of decisions that affected them. "Information and key policy decisions should be channelled to the Regions and through them to Districts, so that work will be done effectively and efficiently."

The disaster resulted in the loss of lives; destruction of houses and dislocation of thousands of individuals; farms; roads and bridges. President Kufuor, who had earlier in the week visited the Northern parts of the country to see at first-hand the extent of the devastation, said there was the need to bring life there to normalcy. Already the Government has dispatched a team from the 48th Field Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces to carry out an assessment of the damage; distributed relief items and started with the reconstruction of broken-down infrastructure. In addition to funds and other items distributed so far by the Government, there has been an outpouring of goodwill as well as material and financial support from many organizations, groups and individuals. President Kufuor said although the various initiatives and donations together had brought a measure of relief to the disaster zones, these were not enough.

He, therefore, encouraged individuals, organizations and the country's development partners to support the reconstruction works in the affected areas.

President Kufuor used the occasion to convey the nation's appreciation to all those helping to bring comfort to the displaced. Meanwhile, a delegation of chiefs from the Chereponi Traditional Area led by the Regent Naaba Munkaila Abubakari, has called on President Kufuor to express their appreciation to the Government for providing the area with a fair share of development through the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Funds.

They, however, appealed to the Government to carve out a new district for Chereponi to help to speed up the pace of the area's development.

In addition, they wanted the Chereponi Health Centre to be upgraded into a hospital and their secondary school into a model school. President Kufuor said the Government would critically look at those demands and work out a comprehensive solution to the development challenges in the area. 14 Sept. 2007