President Maada Bio
On Tuesday, President Bio joined other mourners in an interfaith service at the St Paul’s major seminary in Regent. The interfaith service was to commemorate the fallen compatriots of the August 14th, 2017 mudslide which occurred at Motormeh in Regent.
Addressing the throng of mourners, relatives and friends of the victims, President Bio said, as a new government, they are determined to learn from the August 14th tragedy and put together concrete actions that will discourage people from residing in disaster prone areas.
He used the occasion to issue three strong orders that will take effect almost immediately.
Key among the orders include instructing the Ministry of Lands and Environmental Management to strictly ensure that Mount Sugarloaf and its environs remainpurely a protected area and people who build in those areas cannot only have their houses demolished but will also be prosecuted.
Secondly, the President also mandated the Environmental Protection Agency to, with immediate effect, enforce a ban on all charcoal burning and fuel wood activities at Mount Sugar Loaf.
President Bio declared that his government will convert the Motormeh epicenter to a tourist memorial park for reflection purposes. It will also serve as a memorial to the fallen victims.
He concluded by informing the mourners that cabinet has endorsed the establishment of a National Disaster Preparedness Management Agency. This, according to him, is for government to effectively handle emergencies.
It will be recalled that President Bio has campaigned on a platform of sustainable management of the environment, and upon his election into office his government hurriedly put together an Inter-Ministerial Committee for Disaster mitigation.
Under the supervision of the Chief Minister, the committee had worked very hard with donor partners in identifying houses that are very close to the green belt. The government also held subsequent engagements with the affected parties. Those engagements resulted in the payment of compensation. After the compensation, the houses will be demolished.