Tamale, July 18, GNA - Some 495 private houses that were either destroyed or had their roofs ripped off in a recent rainstorm that hit the Tamale Metropolis, have been rehabilitated through the Tamale Disaster Relief Fund.

Alhaji Mohammed Baba, the Metropolitan Coordinating Director disclosed this at a meeting with members of the disaster committee, the Regional Minister and journalists in Tamale on Wednesday. The meeting was to brief members on how the fund had been disbursed and to explain why the disbursement of three billion cedis GETFund support for the rehabilitation of destroyed schools had delayed. Alhaji Baba said the disaster committee had so far received a total of GH(40,900 (409 million cedis) being donations from individuals and organisations, adding that the committee had used part of the money to resettle some of the displaced persons.

He explained that the delay in disbursing the GH(300,000 (three billion cedis) GETFund support was to allow the committee to comply with procurement procedure to ensure fairness and transparency. He said there were 20 projects that the money was meant to execute and explained that these projects had been put in 10 lots and that the Metropolitan Assembly had open tenders on them. The Metropolitan Coordinating Director expressed the hope that contractors who would win the bids would execute the projects as early as possible.

Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris advised journalists in the region and members of the public to cross check their facts before publishing. He said Regional Ministers were not signatories to cheques of the RCCs and as such, he could not sign any cheque including the three billion cedis GETfund cheque for his personal gain as being alleged by some people.

He explained that the three billion cedis cheque was written in the name of the Northern Regional Coordinating Council and it had to be lodged into its account before clearance. Alhaji Idris appealed to the media to constantly monitor the activities of members of the Tamale Disaster Relief Committee and report any wrongdoing of any member for the appropriate sanctions to be imposed.

He appealed to school children and community members whose schools had been affected to exercise restraint since all such schools would be rehabilitated for normal classes to resume.