SEPTEMBER 20

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018
03
Bagre dam disaster:
Declare state
of emergency
BY MOHAMMED AWAL
ASECURITY analyst,
Adam Bonah,
has called for the
immediate declaration
of a “state of
emergency” in the three northern
regions following the devastating
twin occurrences of the
spillage of the Bagre Dam and
weeks of torrential downpour
which have killed 18 people
with over 100,000 rendered
homeless.
The destruction from the
twin occurrences is out of control,
leaving regional authorities
overwhelmed and helpless.
“This thing has been going
on for how many weeks? The
state of emergency should have
been declared by now. Economic
Community of West
African States should have been
brought in because it has to do
with intra-Africa, where you
have water spillage from a
neighbouring country into another
neighbouring country
that has affected about 50, 000,”
said Bonah on the Morning
Starr programme on Accrabased
Starr FM yesterday.
He told Francis Abban, the
host of the ‘Morning Starr’,
that the response of the government
in dealing with the disaster
was “disgusting.”
• Security analyst tells govt
• Residents have been counting their losses
The Social Enterprise Development
Foundation of West
Africa (SEND) Ghana accused
the government of neglecting
the three northern regions in the
wake of the devastating twin occurrences.
“So far there has been no significant
response on the part of
the government. In some districts,
you had District Chief
Executives going round to assess
the situation but in terms
of response to actually send
reliefs to the community and
affected citizens, that really
hasn’t happened,” Mumuni Mohammed,
SEND Ghana’s team
leader for the Northern and
Upper East regions,
stated.
“Government’s
commitment
in this
regard has been
weak because this
has been with us
for ages. How
long can we continue
to deal with
the issue based
on kneejerk reaction?
The government
hasn’t
really demonstrated
any serious
commitment
to dealing with
this issue,” he added.
Food insecurity looms
Mr Mohammed continued
warning of a possible food
shortage in the three northern
regions following the disaster.
“This is an area all of us are
aware poverty levels are already
high and so what are we doing
to make sure that this doesn’t
worsen the situation? If we are
not careful, we are likely to witness
food insecurity as a result
of this. And this is something
that we have expected,” he
stated.
“Everybody along this
spillage way is now for himself
or herself. That’s lamentable,”
added the Member of Parliament
for Tamale Central, Inusah
Fuseini, when he commented on
the matter.
• The Bagre Dam spillage
has rendered over
100,000 homeless