*‘170mm in 13 Hours Was Unforeseen’ – Kwakye Ofosu Defends Gov’t Response to Flooding* 

Minister of Government Communications, Hon. Felix Kwakye Ofosu, says the recent flooding was caused by an “extraordinary” rainfall that could not have been predicted, and that government funds are being targeted at both relief and mitigation.

Contributing to debate in Parliament, Hon. Kwakye Ofosu stated that part of the allocated money will go towards providing relief for the 38,000 people displaced by the floods. 

“Another 150 million cedis is programmed to help address problems brought on by the flooding, which can lead to more flooding. So there is nothing wrong with mitigating the impact of further rainfall,” he said.

The Minister stressed that the situation was not normal rainfall. “Mr. Speaker, we are not talking about normal rainfall. We are talking about 170 millimeters of rain in a space of 13 hours. The whole of last year June only 56 millimeters of rainfall was recorded. This year, in just 13 hours, two days ago, 170 millimeters of rain fell. It is an extraordinary situation that could not have been foreseen, and is the reason why the impact appears to be bigger.”

He also hit back at the opposition for blaming government over flooding. “Mr. Speaker, our colleagues are rankled that in the past they were held responsible for flooding. If you stayed in power for 8 years, you have no excuse than to take responsibility for a flooding problem that you should have solved within that period.”

Questioning the outcome of past spending, he asked: “What was the outcome of that expenditure? How do you spend millions of Ghana cedis resolving a problem only for it to get worse? It means that the money was either not properly utilised or the wrong approach was adopted. So every Ghanaian citizen has the right to criticise you for failure after 8 years. Nobody is going to give you a bouquet of flowers.”

He concluded that President Mahama has accepted responsibility to address the problem. “But President Mahama has agreed that it is his responsibility as President to address this problem, so we just have to give him our support and a bit of time,” Hon. Kwakye Ofosu said.

Report by PKB