Interior Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has apologised on behalf of government to Ghanaians following the devastating floods that claimed nine lives and destroyed homes and property after Monday’s torrential rains.
The Asawase MP acknowledged the pain caused by the disaster and admitted that government could have done more, but insisted officials had been working through the night as the crisis unfolded.
“Yes, we are really very sorry for the loss of life. We are sorry that this thing has really devastated Accra,” he said.
He defended the government’s response, arguing that while the country had advance warnings that June and July would bring heavy rains, the specific alert for Monday’s downpour only came late on Sunday night.
“But if you ask the Meteo person, he did not say that it’s going to rain today. Ask him, when did they give us the actual alert that this will happen? Yesterday (Sunday, June 28), at 11 pm when the majority of Ghanaians were asleep,” he said.
Muntaka disclosed that one of the immediate steps taken was to coordinate with the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation to get emergency messages sent to mobile phone users.
“I called him, I said that look, you need to help us, can you get the telcos to send messages to people? He was very swift. I believe that is the thing that we need to be doing,” he said, thanking Sam George for the prompt response.
The Interior Minister also revealed that discussions had begun at the Presidency to improve coordination among ministries ahead of future emergencies.
“I’ve spoken to the Secretary to the President. We’ve agreed that as the Secretary to the President, he will be able to pull all of us as ministers together to come and sit down and make sure that we prepare ourselves.”
He stressed, however, that Ghana’s limited resources remained a major challenge in responding to disasters of such magnitude.
“This country is not a rich country, where we have shelters so we can collect people and go and put them there. This country is not that rich. Let’s not be running away from actual responsibility and facing the reality.”
While conceding that more could be done, Muntaka rejected suggestions that government officials had been complacent.
“So, yes, I agree, we could do more, but let’s not make it look like all politicians are people who are not thinking about the country. They are just thinking about themselves. They put them in positions; they are not proactive.”
He said he remained awake throughout the night monitoring developments and was in constant contact with President John Mahama.
“I can bet you, we didn’t sleep; I didn’t sleep, and I know the time that I had to speak to the President early in the morning. I woke him up, and he’s been up and asking questions almost throughout, and he went around to see so.”
Muntaka maintained that the scale of Monday’s rainfall meant flooding was almost unavoidable.
“The only way this rain today could have been avoided from going into people’s homes was to lump the whole of Accra as a drain, because you can see it from the aerial view,” he said.
