Kumasi Floods: Three Ministers Tour Disaster Zones

The Interior Minister, Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea, has been touring the areas which were affected by Thursday’s floods that brought activities in the Kumasi Metropolis to a standstill.

The Minister was accompanied by Deputy Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Hon Patricia Appiagyei, Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei Mensah, KMA boss Hon Osei Assibey Antwi, the MP for Manhyia North, Hon Collins Owusus Amankwah, the Ashanti Regional Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) Kwabena Nsenkyire as well as some City engineers.

The tour took the Ministers through Airport Roundabout, Anloga Junction, Truba, Asabi Junction, Moshie zongo, Friends Gardens, Susuan Akyi, Dakodwom among other prone areas. It afforded them the opportunity to have first-hand information and also sympathised with some of the victims.

Speaking to journalists after inspecting some drains in selected flood-prone areas in Kumasi on Monday July 2, 2018, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea who is also MP for Abukwa South, said the problem was partly self-inflicted and underscored the need for the public to refrain from dumping refuse into drains and water bodies.

He told OTEC News’ Nana Asare Barimah that he was shocked to witness the damage caused by the rain and expressed his disappointment in the previous administrations since independence which paid little or no attention which has now worsened the situation and indicated that, this time they are not going to leave any stone unturned to ensure there is lasting solution to the menace.

He said some of the problems are attitudinal. Some residents in these communities often dump solid waste in drains.

He called for a partnership between his ministry and the media, to deepen awareness about attitudinal change.

He said, the president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwah is committed to release funds to construct bridges and storm gutters in order to save lives and properties as some of the measures meant to avoid future disasters.

Mr Akyea said the perennial flooding the country was faced with was largely an engineering problem with the country’s drainage system.

However, he was quick to add that although the problem was engineering, a report on the situation available to him indicated that a solution had been proposed by engineers, in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders, but financial challenges had hindered the implementation of the proposals over the years.

He submitted that although a permanent solution would be very capital intensive, the government would definitely find the money to make avoidable flooding a thing of the past.

“We cannot play God by saying we will stop the floods because some situations such as continuous torrential rains are beyond human control. But where human intervention is needed, we will ensure that it is put in place.

“Floods occur even in some jurisdictions where infrastructure development is far advanced, but we will not make excuses and allow the causes under our control to persist,” he said.

Expressing worry about some recently constructed storm drains that were broken down by last Sunday’s rains, the minister said an investigation would be launched into the construction of all such drains, which normally were supposed to stand the test of heavy rains, to ascertain the cause of the breakdown.