Emergency Cabinet session today

Ghana's cabinet meets in an emergency session today to consider measures necessary for dealing with the perennial floods in Accra. It will also consider the type of relief government must give to the victims of the flood disaster.

Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama announced this after touring some of the worst affected areas. He cut short his tour of the Volta Region in order to attend to the problem regarded as a national crisis coming just over a month after the Accra Stadium disaster which killed at least 126 soccer fans.

The Vice-President accompanied by Government Spokesperson, Elizabeth Ohene, Roads and Highways Minister, Kwabena Adjei-Darko, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheik I.C. Quaye and the Mayor of Accra, Solomon Darko, visited families of four of the deceased persons.

Alhaji Aliu who flew over the capital to assess the situation described the construction of homes and shops on waterways as unfortunate and unacceptable.

The Vice-President, a civil engineer, said government would have to take difficult decisions to demolish those structures on waterways to allow for the free flow of rainwater.

He blamed engineers and planners of the city for poor work done, and asked the Town and Country Planning to live up to expectation.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Highway Authority has been directed to conduct selective tendering within a week to enable work to begin on the damaged portions of the Spintex Road, which has been completely closed down due to the damage.

According to the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwabena Adjei-Darko, an amount of 15 billion cedis has already been set aside from the road fund to cater for emergencies and part of it will be used to rehabilitate the roads.

In a related development, business operators and residents are counting the cost of damage after Wednesday's rains that caused massive flooding in the city and other parts of the country.

The death toll has increased from six to 11. Four of the deaths were recorded in other parts of the country, which also suffered flooding.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Works and Housing, Kwamena Bartels, has criticised the public for irresponsible behaviour, which he said, has brought about the flooding. He said since indications are that the rains would not stop now, he would bring down all building which have been built on waterways in order to prevent any more flooding.

He however maintained that there would not be any form of compensation for the people who will form victims of this exercise, saying, "they knew they were doing the wrong thing."

Bartels who claims he has already been given names for his insistence on breaking down unauthorised structures in the capital, told national television GTV, that he would not be intimidated or bribed by anybody.