The Alliance of Feminists CSOs (AFCOs) is the latest in a long line of groups and organisations to condemn the comments made by the Sanitation Minister, Freda Prempeh, concerning the flood victims in the Lower Volta Basin.
Ms. Freda Prempeh had blamed the victims of the flood for the calamity that had befallen them.
According to her, they had refused to heed warnings from the Volta River Authority (VRA) to evacuate ahead of the Akosombo and Kpong Hydro Dams spillages leading to the large scale devastation and displacement in the area.
But the AFCOs said the minister in her attempt to absolve the government and its agencies responsible for the management of the spillage, had not only “deepened the perception that the government did not take the issue seriously but has ended up making mockery of herself especially as a woman.”
Describing her comments as reckless and insensitive, the group said such statements “should not be coming from a Minister who is paid by the taxpayers including the victims of the disaster.”
The Alliance further accused the minister of peddling blatant falsehoods.
The AFCOs said her claim that the flood-victims had been informed beforehand of the spillage is unfounded.
“Assuming without admitting that the people were notified as she claimed, was there a place prepared as part of their claimed simulation exercise? It is important to bring to the attention of the Minister that no simulation exercise towards disaster is complete without including temporary accommodation,” it said.
The group further faulted the VRA for failing to activate any preparedness plan to effectively evacuate residents from their homes to safe shelters.
“According to WHO, simulation exercises are done to validate and enhance preparedness and response plans, procedures and systems for all hazards and capabilities. Any simulation exercise that did not pave the way for this is useless. Or could it be the case that the simulation exercise was done with taxpayers’ money and officials of VRA went back to sleep after the exercise?” the group stressed.
The Alliance of Feminists CSOs said the minister’s statement reacting to the contamination of the water and the huge sums of money to be forked out by government for its treatment are totally irrelevant.
They are therefore calling on the minister to as a matter of urgency render an unqualified apology to the victims of the disaster.
Source: Ghana News
