The Interior Minister, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has expressed remorse on behalf of the Mahama administration after deadly floods took nine lives and wrecked homes and belongings following Monday’s heavy downpour.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, the Asawase MP recognised the hurt caused by the incident and conceded the state could have acted better, though he said teams worked through the night as events developed.
“Yes, we are really very sorry for the loss of life. We are sorry that this thing has really devastated Accra,” he sadly expressed.
He backed the administration’s actions, noting that while Ghana was warned to expect strong rains in June and July, the precise warning for Monday’s storm arrived late Sunday.
“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.
Mr Muntaka said one early measure was to work with the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation to push alerts to mobile subscribers.
“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, commending Sam George for moving fast.
The Interior Minister added that talks had started at the Presidency to tighten inter-ministerial coordination before future crises.
“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 that Ghana’s tight budget remains a key hurdle in managing disasters of this scale.
“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 admitting improvements are possible, Mr Muntaka dismissed claims that officials were indifferent.
“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 stayed up all night tracking the situation and kept in touch with President John Drmani 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.”
Mr Muntaka argued the intensity of Monday’s rain made flooding hard to prevent.
“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.
