THE decision by the government to approve GH¢7 million from the Consolidated Fund for the mitigation of the impact of the recent floods in parts of the three northern regions, as well as Keta in the Volta Region, is, indeed, a piece of welcome news.
It is also gratifying that the Minister of the Interior, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, has been appointed to assume responsibility for the management of the exercise.
And true to his description as a man of action, the minister, we are told, has already dispatched a three-man fact-finding team to the three northern regions, as well as Keta, to meet with regional ministers, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives and officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in the affected areas and report on items required and also determine the stock levels of supplies in various warehouses of NADMO.
Furthermore, the ministry has negotiated with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for the release of three articulated trucks to transport the items to the affected areas, while the acting National Co-ordinator of NADMO and some staff of the ministry have been tasked to seek clearance from the National Procurement Authority to organise urgent limited tender for the purchase of the items required.
The DAILY GRAPHIC applauds the interior ministry for the various initiatives it has so far taken towards the successful prosecution of the task on hand and we urge them not to relent in their efforts at any point to make this all-important exercise successful.
We recall that barely a year ago when a similar flood situation occurred in the three northern regions, the inter-ministerial task force set up resolved, as part of its remit, that permanent structures should be put in place as early as possible to obviate the need for ad hoc arrangements should the floods recur in future.
In promoting this and with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other development patners, the capacity of NADMO has been strengthened. Additionally, a nascent early warning system was instituted with the view to minimising the impact of any floods in the three northern regions.
However, the havoc caused by the floods in the three northern regions this year — seven lives were reportedly lost and as many as 150 rendered homeless — gives great cause for concern and we, therefore, urge all the stakeholders to put their shoulders to the wheel and come up with a permanent solution to the perennial problem.
LET'S HEED EC'S 'SOS'
THE Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan, has not minced words about the bloated nature of the voters register. He has stated categorically that the number of people who registered during the limited voter registration exercise has bloated the register, making it statistically incorrect and a recipe for chaos on the election day. And this is no issue to joke with.
He said “with the current national population of 22 million, having almost 13 million people on the voters register is unheard of and if Ghanaians do not assist the EC to clean it during the voter exhibition exercise, we would be witnesses to children, foreigners and people with double identity voting on election day and nothing could be done about it”.
As if those strong words were not enough, the EC chairman, to the astonishment of the gathering, passed round some of the forms containing the data on some of the minors — as young as four — who were registered during the recent exercise.
Shameful and disgusting, isn’t it? So what do we do? What is the way forward?
As Dr Afari Gyan rightly indicated, the EC, on its own volition, could not remove the names of the minors and other unqualified voters from the register until the culprits or their parents call for the deletion of their names from the register or until someone challenged their eligibility.
So, clearly, the ball is in the court of all of us. As a people who dearly cherish our relative peace and freedom, this is the unique opportunity to demonstrate our resolve to consolidate our democratic governance.
The EC chairman has repeatedly said that the credibility of the December 7 polls will not be determined by the commission alone but also by how all stakeholders — the government, the political parties, the security agencies, the media, the electorate and the entire civil society — tackle their shared responsibility.
The first test case is clearly staring at us. Our success or failure in dealing with the rot will, to a large extent, determine our resolve to die for the sake of Mother Ghana.
And we dare not fail. Posterity will certainly not forgive us, if we fold our arms and look on unconcerned for a few people to make mockery of our electoral register.
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