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…slams government’s response to flood disaster
Former President David Granger on Friday took the PPP administration to task over what he described as its mismanagement of the seven-week-long flood disaster which has been ravaging the country since 26th April.
During his weekly recording of ‘The Public Interest,’ the Former Head-of-State said that the PPP administration had taken far too long to acknowledge and respond appropriately to the disaster which still affects the entire country, especially rural and hinterland regions. He pointed out that it was only on 5th June that the administration felt obliged to admit that “…Guyana is facing the worst natural disaster in its history.”
According to a PNC release, the National Assembly was hastily convened 45 days into the flood, to seek a $10 Billion appropriation of expenditure. Granger added that, despite funding, the administration seemed to have no national plan for relief, recovery and rehabilitation after the disaster.
The PNC leader said that, while the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency’s (CDEMA) detailed Damage Sector Analysis (DDSA) Report has been welcome, it could not have been expected to examine the extent of the disaster over an area that is twice as large as the entire English-speaking Caribbean.
The Former President said that the scale of human misery, especially in riverine communities like Akawini, Kwakwani and Moraikobai, has been grossly underestimated and underreported and expressed shock at the administration’s churlish refusal to accept food supplies from Trinidad while flood victims were going hungry.
Granger called on the PPP administration to immediately convene an independent and impartial inquiry into the disaster and to initiate disaster management preparations for the December rains which are expected in five months’ time.
