Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Asante Akyem North Constituency Hon, Andy Kwame Appiah Kubi has stressed the need to tackle flooding and waste management in the country as far as climate change is concerned.
Presenting a statement on the floor of parliament Hon. Appiah Kubi stated that a lot of lives and properties have been destroyed as a result of flooding.
“Mr Speaker you recall that Ghana recorded unprecedented flash flood events in June 3rd 2015 in the Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta and Western region, this went on records as one of the most extreme flood incidents to have ever been recorded in the recent history of the country, available information indicates that, in the Odor river drainage catchment area alone 152 lives were lost while 53,000 residents were affected due to flooding and fire outbreaks.”
According to him it is further estimated that a total of 77,000 properties were destroyed which lead to economic woes, where the government of Ghana have to spend a huge sum of money.
A needs assessment carried out soon after the disaster, identified $105 million reconstruction needs in the transport, housing and water sectors alone, the World Bank which supported the Ghana government to carry out the assessment has said.
The lawmaker called on the authorities to act immediately to resolve this menace since it’s impact on the economy can be dangerous to the country.
He blamed that lack of effective collaboration between the Sanitation and Local Government Ministry as the prime cause of Ghana’s perennial flooding and proper link between these ministries would have curbed what had become an annual ritual of flooding across the country.
The MP concluded by asking the country’s readiness to fight the menace, “Mr speaker considering to what happen to our neighbour countries around us where they were seriously affected by heavy flooding, this is a wake up call on a need to put in place systems of protection against such hazard, although climate change relations to Ghana’s suggests a total annual rainfall is on the downward trend, Mr speaker due to climate change effect, the estimated amount of five billion dollars($5bn) required to fix our drainage systems across the country and the flood is expected to increase each year according to World Bank report” he stated.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com/Nana Kwaku Boffah
