Starvation In Northen Ghana?

... MP expresses alarm at the effect of food crisis

The Member of Parliament for Lawra/Nandom, Benjamin Kumbuor, has expressed alarm at the effects of food shortages in the three northern regions.

Dr. Kumbuor has just returned to Accra from his constituency and he says that dozens of people are dying weekly as a result of the food crisis there.

He says if steps are not taken to address the problem now, it could get out of hand by next year.

He said hardly would one pass by a village without seeing a funeral.

?There is one particular area next to my village that within the three weeks that I have stayed, there has been 14 deaths, seven in a week. So I had a discussion with the newly sworn in DCE and he was also quite alarmed because most of these deaths were attributed to malaria and otherwise curable diseases. The nutrition deficiency could have aggravated most of these deaths and most of the people in the communities I spoke to agreed with me,? he said.

According to Dr Kumbour, the common difficulty encountered by the people over the period was that of food shortage.

? Its very disturbing when I went to the district assembly, I found out that as early as June some maize was sent to Lawra district in particular and the maize had not been distributed as at the time I left. The question is why is the maize still sitting in the storeroom and not distributed.

I have also heard from the media that they have dispatched quantities of rice to the Upper East and West regions. As I talk how there has not been any distribution of any rice. I am not sure whether the rice has moved and whether they are located in the region and I think that is the problem,? he said.

Meanwhile the Northern regional director debunks assertion that there is food shortage in the region,

The northern regional director of Agriculture Silvester Adugbila Adongo has been explaining the food situation in the northern region.

This follows media reports that there is food shortage in the three northern regions.

The MP for Lawra-Nnandom Dr. Ben Kumbour is reported to have said that there is food shortage in the three northern regions.

But Dr. Adongo says there is enough food in the region. He attributes the problem facing the area to unprecedented high demand for maize.