NADMO to relocate displaced villagers (Back Page)

(Friday, April 3, 2009)

THE National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is preparing to relocate about 5,000 displaced inhabitants of Totopey to a nearby community, Dasupe, near Ada, in the Dangbe East District by the end of this month.
That has become necessary because tidal waves have made the community uninhabitable, a situation officials of the NADMO said could be disastrous in May, when the tides were usually high.
This was made known at a press conference the National Co-ordinator of the NADMO, Mr Kofi Portuphy, purposefully held in Accra yesterday to react to some media reports that his organisation was preparing to demolish the house of the former President, Mr J. A. Kufuor, because it was on a waterway.
He denied those reports and rather explained that even though some new apartment buildings opposite Mr Kufuor’s residence were causing flooding, he had no authority to demolish any property except that he could only make recommendations to government for the necessary action to be taken.
According to him, he just cited those buildings at a meeting with a section of his staff.
Turning his attention on disaster management activities for the Accra Metropolis, Mr Portuphy said the NADMO would expand its educational programmes to enlighten residents on how to prevent disasters.
He also hinted that some personnel of the organisation were currently undergoing training at the Military Training Camp at Shai Hills with the Field Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to learn more about disaster management and how to protect lives and property when the need arose.
Throwing more light on the Totopey issue in an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of the NADMO, Mr Winfred Nomotey Tesia, said the organisation was in the process of preparing a site with the help of the Dangbe East District office of the Town and Country Planning Department for the erection of tents to temporarily house the affected people.
He said the inhabitants, who were mainly fisherfolks, would be moved to a higher ground at Dasupe, to enable them to continue with their fishing activities.
Mr Tesia said the organisation had started discussions with some local and international organisations to support it in getting permanent places of abode for the displaced inhabitants.
The regional co-ordinator took the opportunity to appeal to other state institutions to support the organisation in the provision of basic amenities such as water and health care facilities for the people.