Ghana’s Minister for the Interior, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has issued an apology on behalf of the government following the devastating floods that struck parts of Accra after Monday’s torrential rains, leaving nine people dead and causing widespread destruction to homes and property.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, the Asawase MP expressed deep regret over the loss of life and the impact of the disaster, acknowledging that authorities could have responded more effectively, even as emergency efforts were underway overnight.
Defending the government’s handling of the situation, Muntaka explained that while meteorological forecasts had indicated heavy rains in June and July, the specific warning for Monday’s downpour was only issued 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 revealed that emergency communication measures were swiftly activated, including collaboration with the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation to ensure mobile network operators disseminated alerts to the public.
He said, commending Sam George for his prompt response;
“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”,
Muntaka also disclosed that discussions had begun at the Presidency aimed at strengthening coordination among ministries in preparation for future emergencies.
He explained, 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”,
While admitting that improvements are needed, he rejected suggestions that government officials had been negligent or unprepared.
“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 further insisted that he remained actively engaged throughout the crisis, maintaining constant communication with President John Dramani Mahama during the night.
He added.
“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 too”,
According to the Interior Minister, the intensity of the rainfall made widespread flooding almost inevitable.
“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.
