Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1996 |
Jurisdiction | Republic of Ghana |
Headquarters | Ghana |
Minister responsible |
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Website | Official website |
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is the government agency that is responsible for the management of disasters as well as other emergencies in Ghana. The board operates under Ghana's Ministry of Interior. [1] [2]
Ghana formed the National Disaster Management Organisation in 1996, [3] backed by an act of Parliament (Act 927) to manage disasters and emergencies. This was after Ghana had responded to the United Nations Declaration GAD 44/236 of 1989 declaring 1990 to 1999 as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). [3]
NADMO is part of the Ghana Ministry of Interior. It has a board of directors selected from, the Ministries of Health, Finance, Social Welfare, Interior, Information, National Mobilization Programme, Ghana Armed Forces, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), among others. [3] The first board was chaired by, Brig. (Rtd.) Dr. G. K. Deh, Director of Medical Services (DMS), Ghana Armed Forces
Prior to the formation of NADMO, the National Mobilization Programme—set up after the 1982–1983 crises of drought, bushfires, famine, and the deportation of 1.2 million Ghanaians from Nigeria—served as the implementing agency of the Disaster Relief Committee. [3] After the formation, Kofi Portuphy, a member of the Relief Committee who had been instrumental in coordinating the drafting of the Act, became the first National Coordinator of NADMO. [3]
Below is a table of all the Director Generals of NADMO: [3]
Year | Director General | |
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1 | Jan 1997 − June 2001 | Kofi Portuphy |
2 | June 2001 − August 2006 | Brigadier General (retired) Joseph Odei |
3 | August 2006 − December 2007 | Hon George Isaac Amoo |
4 | January 2007 − December 2009 | DCOP Douglas Akrofi Asiedu |
5 | January 2009 − May 2015 | Kofi Portuphy |
6 | May 2015 – March 2017 | Brig Gen Francis Vib Sanziri [4] [5] |
7 | March 2017 − | Eric Nana Agyeman-Prempeh [6] |
NADMO performs specific functions which are all aimed at ensuring that in times of emergency, the government is ready to support relief efforts. These functions are: [1]
The organization's mandate includes response to earthquakes, floods and rainstorms, and market fires.
The mandate of NADMO stipulates that it offers relief support in times of emergencies in any location of the country. As such, the organization has structured its offices on the national, regional, district and zonal levels. [1]
A major challenge that NADMO faces is lack of adequate resources to function effectively. This challenge was highlighted in March 2011, when the arrival of 16,700 Ghanaian returnees from Libya and 7,000 returnees from Côte d'Ivoire overstretched the board's resources. [7] During such periods, appeals are sent out to the donor community for aid in the form of food, medicine, clothing, tents, mattresses, and other materiel to enable NADMO to provide basic necessities to those in need. [7]
Over 5000 refugees entered Ghana during the post-election violence that erupted after the Ivorian presidential elections of 2011. [8] The results of the elections showed opposition leader Alassane Ouattara won the majority of the votes cast. He was declared winner of the presidential election by the electoral body, but the then incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, who was declared winner by the Constitutional Council, declared he would not hand over power to Mr. Ouattara. [9] [10] In the wake of violent protests, thousands of Ivorians fled to neighbouring countries, including Ghana. It was announced in March 2011 that NADMO would establish five refugee camps in the regions that shared a border with the Côte d'Ivoire [7] to aid these refugees. NADMO received support from other agencies such as the Ghana Refugee Board, the Catholic Secretariat, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, UN Population Fund, and other NGOs for the provision of humanitarian services to potential asylum seekers. [7]
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the northwest, Liberia to the west, Mali to the northwest, Burkina Faso to the northeast, Ghana to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 30.9 million inhabitants in 2023, Ivory Coast is the third-most populous country in West Africa. Its official language is French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété, Baoulé, Dyula, Dan, Anyin, and Cebaara Senufo. In total, there are around 78 languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The country has a religiously diverse population, including numerous followers of Islam, Christianity, and traditional faiths often entailing animism.
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The 2010–11 Ivorian crisis was a political crisis in Ivory Coast which began after Laurent Gbagbo, the President of Ivory Coast since 2000, was proclaimed the winner of the Ivorian election of 2010, the first election in the country in 10 years. The opposition candidate, Alassane Ouattara, and a number of countries, organisations and leaders worldwide claimed Ouattara had won the election. After months of attempted negotiation and sporadic violence, the crisis entered a decisive stage as Ouattara's forces began a military offensive in which they quickly gained control of most of the country and besieged key targets in Abidjan, the country's largest city. At the time, international organizations reported numerous human rights violations, and the UN undertook its own military action with the stated objective to protect itself and civilians.
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