North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has urged the government to make use of the abandoned Saglemi Housing project to house the displaced victims of the flood.
According to him, it is absurd for the victims to live in such “inhumane conditions” when the facility is not far away from them.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story on Wednesday, October 25, he said the camping of the victims in a school building is not ideal, since it has disrupted academic work.
“The Ghana Medical Association (GMA), has warned that people are now presenting with respiratory diseases because of the congestion, then the unsanitary conditions – typhoid, cholera so classrooms are not meant for residential use; we all know that so why don’t we relocate these thousands of people displaced into some of these housing projects that are lying fallow so that we can quickly fumigate and prepare these schools again for academic works to resume,” he suggested.
His comment comes after the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) said it is not happy with the government’s slow response to challenges confronting schools in the flood-affected areas.
Flood resulting from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams’ spillage has submerged many classrooms in the affected communities, while others now serve as temporary accommodation for displaced residents at the safe havens.
The situation has compelled schoolchildren to skip school or take lessons under trees.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum on a tour of the affected areas, has assured of government’s commitment to bringing normalcy to the situation.
According to Mr Ablakwa, there is a need to relocate the displaced persons to enable academic work in flood-affected communities to resume.
This issue, he says goes beyond the Education Ministry to tackle, adding that the president must provide an immediate resettling plan.
21 camps in my community – North Tongu are all camps in schools, so as long as these displaced persons have to seek refuge in schools, education will be affected. That is why I have been emphasising that the continuous use of schools as camps is a fundamental issue and we have to address the fundamental issue …,” he added.
On September 15, the Volta River Authority began spilling excess water due to rising levels of the Akosombo and Kpong hydro dams.
Weeks after the spillage began, many residents living along the Lower Volta Basin lost their homes and farms to the floods caused by the spillage.
Currently, nine districts find themselves reeling under the fury of the racing spillage, their inhabitants caught up in this humanitarian crisis.
The heart-wrenching tales emerge from the South, Central, and North Tongu districts of the Volta Region, where the devastation knows no bounds.
The once vibrant communities of Battor, Tefle, Mepe, Sogakope, Adidome, and Anlo have been submerged, their existence nearly swallowed by the unrelenting waters.
Many residents have self-evacuated while NADMO and other agencies have joined the rescue efforts.
Some institutions and individuals have also presented relief items to residents.
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