By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi (W/R), July 03, GNA – Ms. Maribel Akuorkor Okine, Lay Counsellor and Gender and Peace Advocate, says perennial flooding creates more peace and gender challenges than damage to infrastructure alone.
She said floods displaced people from their land into shelters, where water, food and aid became scarce. “That strain creates competition and tension. When response is slow or unequal, trust in institutions erodes. No clean water, no safe shelter, no dignity is a direct threat to community peace,” she said.
Ms. Okine told the Ghana News Agency that in crowded shelters, women and girls faced less privacy, limited access to sanitary products, and higher risks of gender-based violence, while pregnant and nursing mothers often missed urgent health services.
She stressed the need for emergency plans that covered the most vulnerable.
The gender advocate noted that persons with disability faced barriers to evacuation and lost access to assistive devices.
She said girls faced higher risks of sexual exploitation, early or forced marriage, and school dropout when hygiene needs were ignored. Boys faced risks of unsafe labour, school withdrawal to provide for families, and unspoken mental health stress.
She explained that men also carried specific pressures, including loss of livelihoods, restricted mobility to provide, and mental health challenges.
Ms. Okine called for inclusive flood response plans that sought and included the concerns of women and other marginalized groups.
“Floods are not just weather events. They test our peace. Unsafe shelters, unequal aid, and exclusion from decisions create conflict and break trust,” she said.
She added that floods affected health, education, markets, families, community relations, gender and peace.
Ms. Okine said, “It’s not only a NADMO issue. Flood response is often seen as a NADMO issue, but if we leave it to one agency, we miss the wider work needed to keep the peace,”.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga/Kenneth Odeng Adade
By Mildred Siabi-Mensah