Vice president, John Dramani Mahama has led government team to distribute relief items worth $300,000 to some flood victims in the Central Gonja and the West Mamprusi districts of the Northern Region.

Donated by the World Food Programme, (WFP) the items included bags of maize and beans, vegetable oil and iodated salt.

Accompanied by Dr. Sule Gariba, Policy Advisor to the government Mr. Moses Mabengba, Northern Regional Minister, and Mr. Ismail Omer, Country representative of the WFP the distribution were at separate ceremonies at Janga and Kakali No4 in the West Mamprusi and the Central Gonja districts respectively.

Speaking at the ceremonies, on Thursday the Vice President said the government and its development partners will adopt measures to mitigate the suffering of the flood victims.

He said about $5 million would be required to support those affected, construct public infrastructure such as schools, markets and toilets destroyed during by the floods.

Vice President Mahama said “As a responsible government we are ensuring that some form of relieve is made available to our people to mitigate their plights caused by the floods this year,” he emphasized.

Mr. Mahama assured the people that every possible effort will be made to ensure their safety and comfort saying “government considers as important an earlier visit by a joint parliamentary delegation, ministers of state and other bodies to the area and their recommendations will be taken seriously.” 

The Vice president urged the people to listen to advice and to relocate upland to avert future predicaments.

Turning to agriculture which is the mainstay of the people, he said the government’s policy for the sector include subsidizing tractors and other agricultural machinery by 30 per cent to encourage the people to pool resources to enable them to own some of the tractors to improve upon their output.

The government and other donors through the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the Central Gonja District Assembly, led efforts to mobilize relief packages for distribution to the victims. 

The DCE for Central Gonja, Sualisu Be Awuribe, later told “Times” that he hoped more donations will be made available by philanthropists and corporate groups to ameliorate the plight of the people, especially as the dry season approaches.