Tackling floods must be national exercise – Oko Vanderpuije

The Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South constituency, Dr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, is advocating a national approach to tackling the perennial floods which kill and destroy property in Accra.

The former mayor of Accra is of the view that “the national budget must create space for needed works to be done in the capital city”.

He told Class91.3FM on Monday, 8 April 2019 that the revenue of the AMA and other districts “can supplement” what will be provided from the budget.

He suggested that activities such as desilting drains, stopping constructions in waterways, preventing the dumping of refuse in open drains and the building of more drains should not be left only to the assemblies alone.

The MP’s comments follow the deaths of six persons after a heavy downpour on Sunday in Accra.

The former AMA boss pointed out that authorities should have ensured the desilting of major drains in the capital by now in anticipation of the floods a few months to the major rainy season.

“If anybody from NADMO is telling you that they have engaged in desilting the drains, they should publish it and let us know. I personally haven’t seen any area in Accra or its environs being desilted. I haven’t seen it,” he told Benjamin Akakpo on the Executive Breakfast Show.