DAILY GRAPHIC
TUESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER, 2007
FACT-FINDING TEAM ON TOUR OF DISASTER AREAS IN 3 NORTHERN REGIONS.
STORY BY: TIMOTHY GOBAH.
An assessment team, including Ministers of State and Government officials, left Accra yesterday on a three-day visit to the three northern regions to evaluate the disaster situation in the area.
Also accompanying the team were personnel from the UN system, non-government organisations, religious bodies and private sector and the media.
The team is led by the minister of interior, Mr. Kwamena Bartels. Other members include Mr. Frank Agyekum, a Deputy Minister of Information and National Orientation; Mr. Dauda Toure, Resident Co-ordinator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); and Mr Ernest Debrah, the Minister of Food and Argiculture.
The ministers of the three northern regions and technocrats were also part of the team. Others include officials of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA).
Explaining the rationale behind the visit, Mr. Agyekum said it was being organized to enable all stakeholders to have first-hand information about the disaster situation and the plight of the victims in three regions.
He said it was an opportunity for the minister of the interior to brief all partners and give them the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the challenges of the disaster and what the government was doing to deal with the situation.
Torrential rains over a fortnight ago, coupled with the spillage of water from a dam along the White and Black Volta in Burkina Faso, resulted in the flooding that killed eight people and displaced up to 40,000 residents.
Several acres of farm lands in one of the biggest food baskets of the country have been submerged in the flooding which kept raisin by the day. Some bridges in the area also collapsed, rendering most roads impassable.
The situation is such that it is feared that there may be famine in the area, which is also likely to affect southern parts of the country.
