The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Moses Asaga has sought to calm Ghanaians that the perennial flooding of Accra does not mean the country is backward.
[contextly_sidebar id=”jNLcOVX4DoRZ963M8OEIMExSPKTma6lS”]According to him, even Houston in Texas, gets flooded when it rains but that does not make the city backward.
He was reacting to complaints by panelists on the Citi Breakfast show about recurring floods, and comments that government’s failure to solve the problem shows the country is “backward.”
“Having floods does not mean backwardness. Last year, I was in Houston and it was raining. I was really shocked that with all their very beautiful roads. As my taxi was moving, the road was flooded,” he said.
A heavy downpour on Tuesday has flooded most areas in Accra, rendering roads inaccessible and virtually bringing the city to a standstill.
Mr. Asaga acknowledged that comparing Accra and Houston “is not a complete measure…but having floods does not necessarily mean backwardness.”
He nonetheless argued that “Houston, which is the petroleum capital of the world with its infrastructure, is not backward just because the rain fell and there were floods on their streets.”
The NPA boss pointed out that “in the US, every time we hear about floods, does not mean that those states that get those floods which are disasters are backward.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana