I am at a loss – President Mahama says of Accra floods disaster
President John Dramani Mahama, who appeared devastated by the tragic loss of lives and property in the wake of Wednesday night's flooding in Accra and other parts of the country, is calling for clear action to avoid such a recurrence in the future.
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He warned that the usual wails of sympathy that attend such tragedies cause the risk of pulling down structures in waterways; in order to restore sanity, they may not be countenanced at this time.
The President was at the scene of a fire outbreak at a fuel filling station at Kwame Nkrumah Circle where over 80 bodies have been recovered, some burnt beyond recognition following heavy floods in the capital.
Blaming the disaster on human activities, President Mahama said people building in waterways and littering the drains have made it difficult for the flood water to flow because “…we’ve created human a intervention between the source of the rivers and the sea where they are headed.”
“A lot of people have lost their lives. I am at a loss for words to express how I feel, many of them through the floods and then many of them through the fire incident that took place here as the result of the explosion that took place in the filling station located right here”, he said.
“We have to take some measures to be able to avoid this in the future, and often when these moves are started, you have a lot of sympathy and pressure not to take those measures, but I think that the time has come for us to move out of the waterways and the public should understand that… I mean this loss of lives is catastrophic…”
President Mahama said it is time to strategise to ensure this does not happen again.
“We shouldn’t continue to be like the vulture who says he would roof his house when the rain stops. Year in, year out, this continues to happen, and until we attack it scientifically and strategically, we will continue to have this problem.”
The President praised the security and emergency services for staying awake to manage the situation, and expressed his condolences to the bereaved.