NUMBER OF DEATHS IN UE FLOODS, INACCURATE AND ALARMING – MCE 17TH OCT., 2019

The Kassena-Nankana Municipal Chief Executive [MCE] in the Upper East Region, Hon.  William Aduum has described as inaccurate and alarming, claims in some disparaging news reports over the past few days that, as many as 27 or up to 30 people had died as a result of floods caused by days of torrential rains in his district and other parts of the region.

Hon. Willaim Aduum, MCE for KNMA speaking at Manyoro

Even more weird, were some other news reports including one by adomonline.com published 17^th October, 2019 alleging that the floods had also hit a number of cemeteries in the region causing caskets to float. This publication however conspicuously failed [maybe could not] mention the particular cemeteries or the communities where the so-called cemeteries were located.

Hon. Aduum who is also the Dean of all Municipal and District Chief Executives in the Upper East Region, however stated at the end of day’s fact-finding tour to some affected communities on Thursday that, only 17 deaths directly related to the recent floods had actually been recorded across the whole region contrary to the “inflated” figure and other unsubstantiated information reported earlier. He noted that though there was a drastic difference between the actual number of deaths and the earlier falsehood, it was very regrettable to have lost citizens in the incident and expressed his condolences to the bereaved families assuring his assembly and others, will take immediate actions to support the affected households.

The MCE cautioned journalists especially those reporting from the region to be circumspect with the kinds of information they put out there so as not to cause unnecessary alarm and fear in the public space. He also entreated NADMO directors and staff not to be interview-happy by rushing to give out unverified statistics to the press since in some cases, their figures were in variance with the realities on the ground.

Acting Upper East Regional Minister, Hon. Salifu Saeed was part of the team led by staff of the National Disaster Management Organisation [NADMO], to inspect some of the collapsed buildings and observed that, many of the affected houses were constructed with pure local and inappropriate building materials and architecture that could simply not withstand the flood and moisture in the ground. He thus hinted that there was a collaboration between some selected assemblies and the Swiss government to introduce new building technologies for rural dwellers which will re-enforce the first four courses of the building from its base so as to prevent easy collapsing of local housing structures in the region and other parts of the north.

Ag. UE regional Minister, Hon. Salifu Saeed

Hon. Saeed also disclosed that government had done some dredging works in the White Volta basins and gave the assurance that the annual spillage of the Bagre Dam from upstream Burkina Faso, would not cause any serious flooding in the region. He was elated about the fact that with the coming on stream of the soon-to-be-constructed Pwalugu Multipurpose dam, the Bagre Dam spillages will soon become a “perennial opportunity for the region’s people instead of the hitherto, perennial disaster”.

The Acting Regional Minister had earlier called on a household in the Doba community to sympathise with a family that had loss a young man to the floods as he was drowned while trying to swim across a river during the rains. He also visited a family in Sirigu-Nayorogo in the Kassena-West District, where an old lady in her 70s died from a collapsed room. Meanwhile the minister and his team made a stop at the Manyoro Area Council in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality which was housing 20 households comprising 133 persons displaced by the floods.

He charged the various assemblies to immediately compile comprehensive reports on their specific disaster situations and forward same to his office in order to mobilise and send out requests for assistance to the victims.

A section of displaced persons at Manyoro

Meanwhile during his second stop in the day at the Tono Irrigation Dam to inspect the dam’s broken spill-way, Hon. Saeed underscored the economic importance of the dam to the majority of the region’s citizens engaged in agribusiness and said government would not stand-by and watch the dam collapse. He noted that just as major renovation works were being carried out at various portions of the irrigation facility, funds would be sourced to fix the damaged spill-way.

Operations Manager at the Irrigation facility, Mr. Sebastian Bagina reported to the team that, there were non-stop rains from 7^th to 12^th October, 2019 that caused the dam to collect huge volumes water as high as 180.70 metres above sea level, the highest since its construction several decades ago. He disclosed that authorities started witnessing the spilling from August, 2019 but that, the concrete floor of the spill-way began developing very serious and visible cracks with the frequent rains of October. He called for a quick remedy else very dire consequences would befall the dam.