The floods that have hit the Upper East Region and sections of the Northern Region have incidentally exposed deficiencies in the law passed four years ago to check corruption in an area that Government spends over $1,000 annually in procurement.
 | The heavy rains last week in the Upper East Region and sections of the Northern Region made farmers not only lose their crops but now have the extra headache of how to repay bank loans taken for the farming season. |
According to the National Disaster Management Organisation, flood victims in the Upper East Region are to receive relief items worth ¢1.1 billion as the first line of official support.
According to George Isaac Amoo, National Co-ordinator of NADMO, efforts to send relief materials to the thousands of homeless and hungry flood victims have been severely hampered by the procurement process as the purchase of relief items has faced delays. It is a clear indication that the Pubic Procurement Act may have to be looked at again to make it more speedily responsive to disaster situations.
Commuters on the Tamale-Bolgatanga road cannot miss the extent of the devastation to homes and farms. So severe were the floods that some victims were forced to take up refuge on trees, and others had to be rescued by boats.
The cost of damage caused to property runs into hundreds of thousands of Ghana cedis. In the Upper East Region, 4,578 houses have been destroyed by the floods. An estimated 10,000 people, including children, have been rendered homeless.
In general, victims of the floods are estimated to be more than 40,000 in the Upper East Region alone. When the Ministerial delegation went there last week, earlier reports put the number of fatalities at 25. But subsequent reports have mentioned six dead.
A GNA reporter who witnessed the damage said at the Talensi-Nabdam district, the bridge linking Bolgatanga and its environs was filled to the brim while electricity pylons at Nasia in the Northern Region had been submerged in water.
The heavy rains last week swept the disaster further down to the vital Tono Irrigation Project, which suffered severe damage. The floods also hit Tolon-Kumbungu and Buipe in the Northern Region, caused by the River Volta bursting its banks and flooding most of the settlements along it.
The environmental damage may however take years to fix. Trees planted along the banks of the Volta River have been destroyed.
Farmers have not only lost their crops but now have the extra headache of how to repay bank loans taken for the farming season.
NADMO officials believe by Saturday, ¢10 billion of relief package will get to the victims.
The disaster zones includes the Bawku Municipality, Bawku West, Garu-Tempane, Talensi-Nabdam and Builsa districts.
The damaged Kulungugu bridge linking Ghana to Burkina Faso will cost ¢250million to restore, experts estimate.
Peter Dagadu, Director of Ghana Highways Authority, told reporters a further provisional amount of ¢415m was required to fix the damaged Tamne Bridge linking Garu to the rest of Upper East as well as Northern Region.
Moses Appiah Abaare, Bawku West District Chief Executive said his local assembly has committed ¢200m in relief assistance to the victims, mostly farmers whose crops including sorghum and water melon had been destroyed.
Vice President Aliu Mahama, who led a team of experts and Ministers to the affected areas for a whole working day tour, announced that a high-powered team comprising Ministers and the security agencies had been constituted to tackle the Upper East flood situation.
"Government means business and that is why we have to see things for ourselves. I have also brought you hope," he said.
The Sub- Cabinet Committee tasked by the President John Agyekum Kufuor comprising the Ministers of Defence, Interior, National Security, Finance and Economic Planning, and officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation to ascertain the level of damage caused by torrential rains which led to flooding in the Upper East Region are yet to make their report available to the President a week after the incident.
Kwamena Bartels, Interior Minister, who led the government's delegation for the assessment, declined to comment on the situation to The Statesman when contacted on phone.
The appropriate thing, according to him, "is to submit the team's recommendations to the President, who gave us the task and not the press."
Agnes Chigabatia, Deputy Minister for Upper East, told this paper that as at yesterday, it was still raining in the Region but the downpour was not as severe as last week’s rains.
She said as a native and a Member of Parliament from the area, she is moved by the unfortunate event and has therefore made available ¢70 m out of her MP’s Common Fund to purchase millet, rice, sugar, gari and other essential items for the victims.
Touching on the extent of damage, she said, 756 houses collapsed in 12 communities in the Talensi Nabdam District, while in Builsa District, 700 houses collapsed, rendering 2,000 people homeless.
In the Bongo District, 122 houses collapsed rendering 170 people homeless, whereas 1,500 houses collapsed in the Bawku District with 5,200 people displaced.
Navrongo which suffered similar losses a few days ago also recorded a total number of 1,500 collapsed houses, rendering 3,000 people homeless. Some bridges were washed away and farm produce destroyed.
According to her, NADMO dispatched three truck loads of relief items comprising of foodstuffs, clothing, blankets, bed sheets, cooking utensils to those whose household goods had been washed away.
Rainbow Aid, a charity organisation, assisted flood victims by delivering a truck load of relief items to the affected areas. Citizens joined in, donating used clothes to a Catholic Church in Accra, St Kizito, which will be sent to the victims up north.
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