Buipe flood victims to be relocated — Chief of Staff

The government is to permanently relocate residents of flood prone areas in the Central Gonja District in the Savannah Region to higher grounds.

This is to provide a lasting solution to the perennial displacement of residents of the area.

To that end, the Paramount Chief of the Buipe Traditional Area, Buipewura Abdulai Jinapor II, has allocated large tracts of lands to the government for resettlement of the victims.

These came to light when members of the inter-ministerial committee on floods, led by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, visited flood victims at Buipe yesterday to empathise with them.

The visit was also to assess the flood situation in the area, and to recommend ways to address the perennial flooding issue.

As part of the visit, the delegation donated quantities of assorted items to the victims to alleviate their plight.

The items included bags of rice, cooking oil, packs of sachet water, blankets and buckets.

A month-old flood, occasioned by the overflow of water from the Black Volta, coupled with torrential rain, has caused massive devastation at Buipe and its environs.

So far, more than 6,000 people have been displaced, while a number of structures, including houses, schools and health facilities, have been submerged, according to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).

Currently, some of the victims are living  in classrooms and tents while others are perching with relatives.

Interacting with the victims, the Chief of Staff expressed worry about the level of devastation caused by the flood in the area and pledged the government’s commitment to provide them with the needed support they deserved to enable them to cope with it.

"We have seen the level of destruction caused by the flood, let me assure you that the President is not relenting on his  efforts to address the situation," she said.

Assurance

For his part, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abdulai Jinapor, said the visit by the committee was to assure the people of the government’s resolve to address the situation.

He said the government remained committed to offering the victims the needed support to enable them to bounce back stronger than before.

The Director-General of the Ghana  Health  Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, indicated that the GHS had taken up aggressive steps to provide regular health outreach programmes for the affected communities to ensure their well-being.

Writer's email: mohammed.fugu
@graphic.com.gh