A leading member of pressure group, Citizen Ghana Movement, Kofi Bentil has called for a complete shutdown of the Ghana Meteorological Agency, calling some of their forecasts as total “gibberish.”
The meteorological Agency, as the name suggests, is the sole state agency responsible for studying the weather and climate changes and forecasting any pending weather-related conditions, so as to guide both the public and central government in planning their day-to-day activities and itineraries.
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However, over the years, despite some accurate predictions that earned the agency some commendations, some analysts hold the view that the inaccuracies and in some cases, inertia of the agency leave much to be desired.
There is an ensuing debate among a section of the public regarding the relevance or otherwise of the Meteorological agency following the shutdown call by lawyer Kofi Bentil. While some agree completely with him, others hold the opinion that the agency is under resourced and needs retooling and overhauling to make it as effective as expected.
For some time now, the ineffectiveness of that institution has been part of discussions in the media, but the debate has been rekindled after last Friday’s heavy downpour that caused lots of havoc in certain parts of the country including the national capital, Accra.
Mr. Bentil thought the agency could have been more proactive and accurate with their forecasts in order to avert most disasters such as the one that happened on Friday tumbling a part of former President Rawlings’ Ridge residence.
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Kofi Bentil wrote on Facebook, “Said before, I repeat, if we shut down Meteo nothing will happen. We shd give their salaries to an orphanage. That’s better.”
However, it is equally not out of place when the agency suggests that Ghanaians fail to pay attention to weather reports until a disaster takes them unawares. It also claims that most media firms fail to provide it slots to publicise forecast reports.
Read the debate below as happened between Kofi Bentil and his followers: