President John Dramani Mahama has advised Ghanaians against blame game
in the wake of the June 3 twin-tragedy, a situation he said, would not solve
the problem on the ground.
"We do not need to expend our energies on what the past governments
did not do, but to channel our energies towards supporting the current
government to put in place workable measures," he said.
President Mahama said this yesterday during a memorial service held in
honour of the over 150 people who lost their lives in last week’s floods and
fire disaster in the Greater-Accra Region.
The service also marked the end of the three-day national mourning
declared by the President last week.
The programme was attended by Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe
Amissah-Arthur, former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor,
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and Muhamudu Bawumia, Presidential and Vice
Presidential candidates of the New Patriotic Party respectively. Also in
attendance were Edward Doe-Adjaho, Speaker of Parliament, Mrs Georgina Theodora
Wood, Chief Justice, Ministers of State, the Clergy from all faiths, Members of
Parliament and some families of the deceased.
President Mahama said government had given an authorization for DNA test
to be conducted on bodies of victims that have not been identified. He
said it was only after that conduct that charred bodies that were beyond
recognition could be identified for the necessary procedures to follow.
President Mahama appealed to people who had not heard from their loved
ones, especially those living in Accra since the disaster to visit the
Korle-Bu, Police and 37 Military hospitals to check the list of injured or
those who died in the inferno or the flood. He said while the Senegalese
government had supported Ghana with $150,000, Government of Ghana had set aside
GH¢50 million for the purchase of relief items for the displaced persons in
last Wednesday's disaster.
He commended the security agencies and the medical staff for working
around the clock to save more lives in the disasters.
In a sermon, Reverend Eastwood Anaba, Founder of the Fountain Gate
Chapel, said in the midst of grief as a result of disaster, one could only take
solace in the word of God. He said Ghana could rise and forge ahead
irrespective of the current calamities; a situation he said should be fought devoid
of political party, social status, ethnic or religious backgrounds. Rev. Anaba urged Politicians
and Technocrats to use the disaster as a springboard on which more strategies
would be drawn to avoid the recurrence of such mishaps in future.
“Weeping at this stage would not revive lives and solve the problems,
but to develop positive actions that would throw the accidents into the dustbin
of history,” he said. He urged government and partners to put in place measures that would
encourage families of the deceased, by going beyond the memorial service, to
support their families to be comfortable in society.
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