By The Minister for the Interior, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, has defended the government’s handling of Monday’s devastating floods, insisting that senior state officials, including President John Dramani Mahama, worked throughout the night as emergency teams battled to save lives across the capital.
Responding to criticism over the scale of the disaster, Mr Muntaka said neither he nor the President slept as the government coordinated rescue operations following torrential rains that submerged communities, displaced hundreds of residents and claimed several lives.
“I can bet you we didn’t sleep. I didn’t sleep, and I knew the time that I had to speak to the President early in the morning. I woke him up, and he’s been up and asking questions almost throughout. He went around to see,” the Interior Minister said in an interview with JoyNews on Monday, June 29.
His remarks come in the wake of one of Accra’s worst flood disasters in recent years, with emergency services carrying out rescue operations in communities including Alajo, Adabraka, Circle, Kaneshie, Weija, Tse Addo, Spintex and other flood-prone areas after hours of relentless rainfall overwhelmed drains and waterways.
The flooding left homes, businesses and public infrastructure submerged, while personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service were deployed to rescue stranded residents, including children, the elderly and motorists trapped in rising floodwaters.
Mr Muntaka acknowledged that although the government could improve its disaster preparedness, it was unfair to suggest public officials had ignored the unfolding emergency.
“I agree we could do more, but let’s not make it look like all politicians. I mean, people are not thinking about the country; they are just thinking about themselves, they put their position [first], they are not proactive,” he stated.
The Interior Minister expressed deep sympathy to families affected by the disaster, particularly those who lost relatives and valuable property.
“So yes, we are really very sorry for the loss of life. We are sorry that this thing has really devastated Accra,” he said.
Mr Muntaka, however, argued that the intensity of the rainfall, coupled with years of human encroachment on waterways, made widespread flooding almost unavoidable.
“But believe me, the only way this rain today could have been avoided from going into people’s homes would have been to dredge the whole of Accra because you can see it from the aerial view,” he explained.
He attributed much of the devastation to indiscriminate construction on waterways and wetlands, saying such activities have significantly weakened the city’s natural drainage system despite repeated directives to metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to tackle the problem.
“Yet our human activities—building on waterways… we’ve been tasking the district assemblies”, he added.
The Minister’s comments reinforce President Mahama’s call for far-reaching measures to permanently address Accra’s perennial flooding, including the removal of structures obstructing waterways, the restoration of wetlands and sustained investment in drainage infrastructure.
Government has also announced plans to release funds from the national contingency allocation to support relief efforts for victims as emergency agencies continue assessing the full extent of the destruction.
