By Justice Lee Adoboe
The National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization, Kofi Portuphy has said that the organization was gearing up to start enforcing some of its regulations around the country.
He said the organization has got some of its laws reviewed giving it some powers of enforcement so it could move into action when some of those regulations were being violated.
Speaking to The Lead on the side of a 3-Day workshop on the country’s new Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DRR&CCA) plan here last week, Mr. Portuphy said NADMO and its stakeholders had succeeded in reducing the incidence of perennial floods in Accra as a result of some bold steps taken.
“We got the department of urban roads, hydrological services department and the Ghana Highway Authority to redesign and expand some drains in flood-prone areas in the city, and this has paid off,” Mr. Portuphy added.
He added that the drains around the Villagio apartments near the Tetteh Quarshie interchange for instance had been redesigned, expanded and covered, “allowing for the easy flow of running water.”
On the new DRR&CCA plan, the Coordinator said the way forward now is implementation.
Mr. Portuphy said: “five pilot schemes of the new program drawn under the Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) had been successfully run in Enchi in the Western Region, Tumu in the Upper West Region, Walewale in the Northern Region, Keta in the Volta Region and Fanteakwa in the Eastern Region.”
He pointed out that one of the major causes of flooding in the city had been the rural-urban drift which continued to bring more people into the capital, explaining that since most of those who came into the capital could not afford the high rent charges they ended up erecting structures in water ways and flood-prone areas, thus causing flooding in rainy seasons.
Mr. Portuphy therefore called on city authorities to start implementing the new building codes rigidly in order to forestall future re-emergence of flooding in the capital.
According to him, NADMO, with sponsorship from the UNDP had brought building experts together to review existing building codes and developed new building guides for the country.
“The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing will then turn these guides into building codes which must be enforced to ensure that development was well regulated in the city,” he disclosed.
The DRR& CCA plan was drawn under the auspices of the UNDP the United Nation Office for Coordinating Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) which cooperated in the formation of CADRI to help in developing capacities of the UN and governments in disaster risk reduction.
Hachim Badgi, the CADRI expert on disaster expert who had been helping the UN and the government to develop capacities in disaster risk reduction was the main resource person at the training.
He urged the government to ensure that the five percent contributions from district development funds into the disaster risk reduction funds at the local levels and national levels was implemented.
“This must be implemented, especially in disaster prone communities so that agencies are not caught flat-footed in case of disasters, Mr. Badji urged in an interview with The Lead.
He gave Ghana high marks for concluding its DRR&CCA plan saying the West African country was the first in Africa to have achieved that feat.
According to him, the UNDP had flown a representative on disaster monitoring into the country.
This official according to Mr. Badji would coordinate and who would be stationed in Ghana for two to three years would work with NADMO to follow up on the implementation of the new DRR& CCA plan for the country.
Source: The Lead








ACCRA, Sept.30 (Xinhua)-- Ghana is set to start implementing a new Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DRR& CCA) plan, National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organization, (NADMO) Kofi Portuphy has said here on Friday.
Speaking to Xinhua after a 4-day a training workshop organized for Ministers, local government officials and other interest groups in disaster management and climate change adaptation, Portuphy said five pilot schemes of the new program drawn under the Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) had been successful.
The coordinator who expressed optimism about the prospects of the program cited the success in reducing the flooding situation in the capital as a result of definite steps taken by the organization.
“We got the department of urban roads, hydrological services department and the Ghana Highway Authority to redesign and expand some drains in flood-prone areas in the city, and this has paid off,” Portuphy added.
He pointed out that one of the major causes of flooding in the city had been the rural-urban drift which continued to bring more people into the capital, explaining that since most of those who came into the capital could not afford the high rent charges they ended up erecting structures in water ways and flood-prone areas, thus causing flooding in rainy seasons.
Portuphy therefore called on city authorities to start implementing the new building codes rigidly in order to forestall future re-emergence of flooding in the capital.
According to him, NADMO, with sponsorship from the UNDP had brought building experts together to review existing building codes and developed new building guides for the country.
“The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing will then turn these guides into building codes which must be enforced to ensure that development was well regulated in the city,” he disclosed.
Hachim Badgi, the CADRI expert on disaster expert who had been helping the UN and the government to develop capacities in disaster risk reduction was the main resource person at the training.
He urged the government to ensure that the five percent contributions from district development funds into the disaster risk reduction funds at the local levels and national levels was implemented.
“This must be implemented, especially in disaster prone communities so that agencies are not caught flat-footed in case of disasters, Badji urged in an interview with Xinhua
He gave Ghana high marks for concluding its DRR&CCA plan saying the West African country was the first in Africa to have achieved that feat.
According to him, the UNDP had flown a representative on disaster monitoring into the country.
This official according to Badji would coordinate and who would be stationed in Ghana for two to three years would work with NADMO to follow up on the implementation of the new DRR& CCA plan for the country.
The DRR& CCA plan was drawn under the auspices of the UNDP the United Nation Office for Coordinating Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) which cooperated in the formation of CADRI to help in developing capacities of the UN and governments in disaster risk reduction. Enditem.

Source: Justice Lee Adoboe