Accra, June 12, GNA – Mr Boye Laryea, the Municipal Chief Executive of the Okaikwei North Municipal Assembly, has cautioned squatters in the Municipality over their weak habitation structures and poor attitudes towards the environment.
He said: “The victims are squatters who find it offensive when you try to evacuate them from their places of abode. When you try to evacuate them, they ask you, so where do we go to stay?
“Why should somebody die because of somebody’s mistakes? Being the MCE, sometimes I go round advising people that you cannot live in certain areas because they may be dangerous for you.”
He said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, following the Tuesday’s downpour, which led to the deaths of five people in the Municipality.
Mr Laryea explained that many of the squatters often throw away heaped rubbish into waterways and drains to be carried away whenever it rains- an action that prevented the easy flow of running water.
“One of the gentlemen, who escaped death in the flood, said he is a Kente weaver from Ho. So I asked him why he relocated to Accra when he only sleeps in kiosk here. I even suggested that he goes to Ho, continue with his work and find a shop in Accra to supply his things for sale.
“So it is difficult to deal with this matter, I mean tragedies from downpour until we change our mindsets,” he said.
The MCE said together with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NaDMO), they were still looking for a pregnant woman who had been missing since the downpour.
Ms Betty Wiafe-Akenteng, an administrator of NaDMO, Okaikwei North Municipality, said parts of the Municipality that were submerged by the torrential rain included Abeka, Fadama, Abofu, Achimota, Akweteman, Wuoyeman, Apenkwa, Alogbloshie Christian Village and Kissieman.
Giving details about the casualties, she said, there was a household residing in a kiosk very close to an uncompleted building which had been abandoned by its owner.
The wall of the building collapsed and unfortunately fell on the kiosk and its occupants.
The victims, identified as Christabel Ayisibea, 17, and Diana Ayivi, 24, who died upon reaching the Achimota Hospital.
Other victims were Solomon Akowuah, 28, and Louisa Akrofi, who were electrocuted when the rain entered the kiosks they had occupied, she said.
Ms Wiafe-Akenteng said the victims also included a one and a half year-old boy who was found unconscious on the Achimota railways and died after being sent to the hospital.
Meanwhile, she said NaDMO officers, together with other state officials have visited the victims of the affected areas.
Another victim who lost her life was Madam Patricia Serwaa of Nii Boi Town, Mambo area, who on seeing her flooded room, and in a hypertensive state, was then rushed to the Lapaz Community Hospital but died after arrival.
The Administrator said a sprinter bus was carried on the Onyinase River due to the flood, which hit the bridge and eventually cracked the bridge, making it unsafe for residents.
Mr Frederick Ayipaala Ayivoore, the Administrator of the Achimota Hospital, said two of the victims who were rushed to the hospital as a result of the floods, were treated and discharged.
However, four of them who died were identified by their relatives and taken away, with the exception of the one who was later transferred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospitals’ morgue.
“Thankfully, his family has also come to identify the body and taken custody of him,” he said.
GNA