A 24-hour downpour from last Thursday to Friday resulted in flooding that has cut off communities and displaced some residents in the Nadowli-Kaleo District, and washed away portions of roads, including the 88.5-kilometre Wa-Hamileinternational road passing through six districts in the Upper West Region, thereby affecting both local and foreign travels, particularly to neighbouring countries.
Preliminary data from the Upper West Regional Office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) indicates that about 45 kilometres of road was washed away at different places like Daruri, near Nadowli, and Babli, near Lawra, cutting links of Nandom Municipality, a border area, with Wa, the regional capital.
Over 80 communities are thus said to have been cut off from Wa, with extensive damage done to houses and farmlands.
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Kwasi Amoako-Attah, touring the affected places with the relevant state officials to acquaint himself with the extent of damage, has described the incident as a national disaster that must be fixed in the fastest time possible.
He mentioned that a report would be generated by the engineers together with the other stakeholders and presented to the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo within the next one week for further action.
He hinted that the ministry had already initiated a conversation with P.W. Ghanem, a construction firm in the Upper West Region, on the issue and gave the assurance that the government would work to ensure that none of the districts in the country was cut off as a result of a natural disaster.
It is instructive to note that the government is overwhelmed by the ravages of the flooding and accurately describes it a national disaster.
This means the central government would play a major role in fixing the road, including the drains and bridges and related problems, without giving such urgency-demanding task to the district assemblies, which usually do not have the wherewithal to fix disasters of the catastrophic magnitude as that currently witnessed in the Upper West Region.
It also means the Executive, particularly the President and the sector Minister, would monitor happenings with regard to the project and this paper encourages them to do so through the strictest of monitoring to ensure that quality, durable and value-for-money work is done.
The Ghanaian Times is happy that the Road Minister was accompanied on his tour by officials of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), NADMO and the affected assemblies.
These are major stakeholders in offering relief to the affected people by bringing back life to normalcy.
NADMO in particular should give the people whatever they deserve. It is an open secret that such devastating incidents are exploited by some NADMO officials to divert relief items either for their own use or sell them and pocket the money.
The GHA should do well to ensure the best of supervision in order not to give any contractor the opportunity to compromise quality and durability. The Authority should be the clearest eyes of the President and the minister.
The RCC and the affected assemblies should demand what is good for their people and Ghanaians in general.
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