A distress widow – Mrs. Fauzia Issaka of Gagbiri in the Tempane constituency of the Upper East Region is calling on Government to come to her rescue as crocodiles are said to be devouring her livestock.
Dangerous reptiles are said to have sprang an attack on the area after weeks of torrential rainfall as flood waters are washing crocodiles and pythons into houses.
The 63-year old widow made the appeal during an assessment tour by the ‘orphan’ Member of Parliament for the area, Madam Lydia Akanvariba Adakuduga. The lawmaker was in her constituency to assess the level of damage caused by the flood.
For Fauzia Issaka, the flood has not only submerged their crops, but has released crocodiles which now attacks them. “The crocodiles have consumed two of my animals and there other Pythons and dangerous reptiles that have taken over the place and so we can’t even go to our farms any longer because we don’t know what will happen to us. Mosquitoes and others insects have been biting me, look at my body, please madam (MP) help us, we want you to talk the government to come to our aid. Our lives are in danger”.
Hundreds of hectares of farmlands are said to have succumbed to the ‘unsympathetic’ flood thus leaving local farmers helpless and displaced. Many communities have been disconnected as the already-bad-roads have now been turned into rivers.
The first-term lawmaker believes some work needed to be done on the farmer-friendly Tamne Dam which has suddenly turn to a crocodile-offshore-washing water body.
“Actually we are very about the Tamne irrigation dam, but then so many things are also affecting us, we have a road linking to our capital, Garu where our children passes for their education , that is where our biggest schools are and the water has over flooded the river so we can’t cross there. Initially a tricycles operators used to charge us two Ghana cedis from Gagbiri here to Garu through that short road and now that the water has taken that road, we have to go to Tempane to Garu which is now costing us eight Ghana cedis.”
She is thus pleading on government to come to the aid of the affected farmers. “We want to plead with the government, the National Disaster Management Organization, (NADMO) civil society organizations (CSO) and non-governmental organizations (NGO) to come to their aid. Most of the farmers, their crops have been submerged in the water. If we don’t solve the issue now, there would be hunger in this part of the constituency, we are appealing to the government and the engineers of this project to look at it again.”
She noted that some of the settlers need to be moved to higher grounds and that government should consider resettling them per the contract agreement. “They have resettled other people. But there are some people that still need resettlement. We are crying now because this is the rainy season and the peak of it has not started yet. From now until September ends, it’s going to be serious― very, very serious. The water level is going to rise more than this. We are pleading with the government to resettle those houses that have not been resettled.” said the distress Member of Parliament.
Gaspard Ayuureneeya.