Source - Daily Graphic, Thursday, September 20, 2007

Builsa Assembly calls for supply of tents
Members of the Builsa District Assembly in the Upper East Region have called for the immediate supply of tents and camp beds to ease the burden on school buildings that are currently serving as camps for displaced flood victims. Currently, schools such as Sandema Primary, Afoko and Ayieta Continuation Primary School are being used as camps and the occupiers have had to rotate the usage of the schools. Displaced persons have had to move out during the day to make way for normal classes to take place and move back during the night to sleep. But the Assembly members say that this practise is unacceptable and are calling for assistance.

The Assembly made the call at an emergency meeting held at Sandema on Tuesday. The Assembly also voted ¢100 million out of its Common Fund to procure relief items for the victims of the recent flood disaster that hit the district. Members also resolved tha 0.5 percent each of the funds of its two contituencies be allocated for the procurement of relief items for teh disaster victims.

Two days of torrential rains from August 24 to 25 this year, coupled with the spillage of water from the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso into the White and Black Volta rivers, resulted in flooding that killed eight people and rendered a number of people homeless. In his report to the house, the Builsa District Chief Executive, Mr Thomas Alonsi, said six persons died while 5,052 houses collapsed with 15,000 people rendered homeless. He added that 6000 hectares of farmland and 27 bridges in the area were damaged, rendering most roads in the district impassable.

The District Chief Executive also enumerated a number of measures taken to help mitigate the suffering of the people. These include registration of affected persons and provision of temporary accomodation in schools and strong structures. He indicated that initial relief items received from NGOs and the government through NADMO has also been distributed to affected persons. Assembly members present commended the DCE for the actions taken so far and made an appeal to members of the general public to come to the aid of the victims. They however expressed their disgust at the action of the District Coordinator of NADMO who was alleged to have diverted some of the relief items meant for flood victims and demanded that he should arrested and handed over to the police for prosecution. The DCE gave the assurance that everything possible would be done to ensure that the laws of the land would take thier course.

A former Presiding Member of the Assembly, Mr Joe Akanpatulsi, called for a disaster plan for the district to address future crises. Meanwhile the Assembly has denied allegations of selective and partisan distribution of relief items so far received in the district in the wake of the recent flood disaster that hit the district. In a one-page communique signed by its Presiding Member, Mr Ben Agalga and issued at Sandema at the end of an emergency Assembly meeting on Tuesday, the Assembly dismissed the allegations and cautioned persons engaged in perpetuating falsehood to refrain from it.