I wish I had a bulldozer - Rawlings speaks on deadly Accra floods
Former President Jerry Joh Rawlings has described the death of about 100 people in a deadly fire in Accra Wednesday as a disaster.
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It is not clear what started the fire that completely destroyed the filling station next to the GCB Bank Circle Tower branch, and also burnt several houses and shops, but eyewitnesses suspect fuel-laden floods could have imported the fire which trapped many who had sought refuge from torrential rains that cut off several communities from major roads.
The floods have also destroyed property across the country and in the capital in particular, leading to the death of dozens of people.
Mr Rawlings, who visited the scene of the fire Thursday, attributed the floods to the building of structures on waterways.
The former President therefore called for an immediate elimination of buildings sitting on waterways.
He suggested that if he had a bulldozer, he would have proceeded to destroy such illegal buildings.
"I wish I had a bulldozer," he said.
Early on, President John Mahama, who visited the scene of the devastation at Circle, described the incident as 'catastrophic', saying he was lost for words.
“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,” he added.
The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, also commented on the flooding , describing it as a "major tragedy" and a "very big, big bad day" for Ghana.
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Accra, Mr Okoe Vanderpuye, has been widely condemned by a section of the public, with many calling on him to resign.
Speaking Thursday, Popular playwright, Uncle Ebow, critcised Mr Vanderpuye over the perpetual Accra floods, asking him to fix problems facing Accra instead of collecting undeserved awards.
Click to view photos of the deaths and destruction wreaked by the floods