The Majority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, has called on the government to establish a dedicated financial intervention package to support market women and small businesses devastated by the recent floods across southern Ghana.
Delivering a statement on the floor of Parliament, Dafeamekpor said while emergency relief efforts remain necessary, the scale of the disaster demands a targeted economic recovery programme to help affected traders rebuild their livelihoods.
He noted that beyond the destruction of roads, homes and public infrastructure, the floods have wiped out the working capital of thousands of market women, traders, artisans and small business owners, leaving many at risk of permanent business collapse.
According to him, the floods have severely impacted major commercial centres including markets in Aflao, Keta, Anloga, Akatsi, Sogakofe, Ada, Ashaiman, Tema, Madina, Dome, Kaneshie, Odorkor, Mallam Junction, Kasoa, Kotokuraba, Esikado and Samreboi, with preliminary assessments indicating that more than 100,000 market women may have been affected.
He described market women as the backbone of household economies, emphasising that they finance their children’s education, provide healthcare for their families, create employment and sustain local food supply chains.
“The goods destroyed by the floods represented years of sacrifice, borrowed capital and cooperative savings. Without immediate support, many face the prospect of permanent business collapse, mounting debt and deeper poverty,” he told Parliament.
To address the crisis, Hon Dafeamekpor proposed the establishment of a Special Flood Recovery and Market Resilience Intervention Programme dedicated to market women as well as micro, small and medium-sized enterprises affected by the floods.
He said the package should include emergency grants for traders who have lost their entire stock, low-interest recovery financing through the Ghana Enterprises Agency, temporary repayment moratoria for beneficiaries of government enterprise programmes, inventory replacement assistance, financial advisory services, loan restructuring with financial institutions and a transparent verification system to ensure support reaches genuine victims promptly.
The Majority Chief Whip identified the Ghana Enterprises Agency as the most suitable institution to coordinate the intervention in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry and other relevant agencies.
He argued that supporting flood-hit businesses should not be viewed as charity but as an investment in economic resilience, noting that every trader who resumes operations helps preserve jobs, restore household incomes and strengthen local supply chains.
The respected legislator urged the government to act swiftly by committing a dedicated financial recovery package for flood victims, particularly the tens of thousands of market women whose livelihoods have been washed away.
He said the country’s response to the disaster should demonstrate that no hardworking Ghanaian is left to shoulder the burden of a national crisis alone.
By: Christian Kpesese
