June 3 disaster: PPP consoles bereaved families

Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has consoled families of the June 3 twin-disaster victims as the country marks one year of that incident today.

“Indeed, today is a sad day, and we don’t intend to add salt to injury by reminding families of the victims of the June 3 disaster about their loved ones who lost their lives.

“However, it is important that we remember these gallant men and women, celebrate them, and ask after one year of such horrible incident, have we learnt our lessons? …Have we found out the causes and its relative solutions,” PPP in a statement signed and issued to the media yesterday in Accra by its National Secretary, Murtala Mohammed, said.

The statement was nevertheless emphatic that the city authorities were aware of the fact that human activities such as indiscriminate dumping of refuse, siting of buildings along waterways, and the growth of slums on marginal lands or waterways are the major causes of flooding in Accra.

It noted that apart from human activities, engineered drains were insufficient, small and improperly channeled, noting that most of them do not meet the city’s requirement.

The PPP asked: “Do we have institutions responsible for ensuring that illegal structures along waterways are demolished? Do we have institutions to ensure that drainage systems are properly constructed? Who awards the contracts? Why do city authorities sit aloof for the city to flood when they know the causes? Does it show incompetence on the part of our city authorities”?

According to the PPP, the country was not making any headway as a people.

For instance, it noted that barely a year after the June 3 disaster, Accra has experienced two separate floods in the month of May.

That, it said, was s a clear indication that “we have not learnt our lessons, and city authorities are also not up to the task as adequate flood preparedness and mitigation scheme don’t seem to exist.”

The PPP’s chief scribe wondered what city authorities have been doing since the incident happened.

The statement further asked: “Are city authorities waiting for another disaster before they put their acts together? Are there not ways to deal with floods once and for all? …Why must people of Ghana suffer these avoidable disasters? We demand Government put in place stringent and professional measures to deal with flooding.”

To this end, the PPP called on government and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to render account on how monies from the June 3 disaster management fund which was set up by the government to support families of the victims were disbursed.

It asked government to provide a detailed account on the total amount accumulated through the fund.

Today is exactly one year when the June 3 Kwame Nkrumah Circle twin-disaster which claimed over 160 lives occurred.

The combined tragedy of floods and filling station explosion which snuffed away loved relations plunged the country into a state of mourning and despair that has left an indelible mark on the minds of Ghanaians.