Advocacy group, One Volta Ghana, has expressed disappointment in President Akufo-Addo and his cabinet ministers for their failure to visit the flood affected areas in the Lower Volta Basin.
According to the group, despite the devastation the Akosombo and Kpong dams’ spillage has visited on thousands of people in the area, neither the President nor his cabinet have made it a priority to visit the affected communities and sympathise with the people.
“Our disappointment cannot be measured when we view that since the spillage and consequent untold hardships and havoc visited on the people of the Volta Region lying downstream of the Akosombo dam the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, had not made a trip to the affected areas neither had his Vice President or any of his senior cabinet members,” the group said in a press statement.
They are also demanding resettlement of the communities affected and compensation for the destruction of properties.
“It is the responsibility of the central government of any Republic to protect the rights and welfare of its citizen irrespective of where they live. The case of Ghana seems different under this NPP administration. We are wondering whether the same attitude can be shown to other citizens facing this unforetold disaster through no fault of theirs,” the group added.
The Volta River Authority (VRA) commenced the spillage of excess water in the Akosombo and Kpong hydro dams on September 15.
While the current inflow to the reservoir is pegged at 400,000 cubic feet of water per second, the authority says it is spilling just about 183,000 cubic feet of water, and they cannot ascertain when the spilling exercise will be over.
Meanwhile, thousands of people living along the Lower Volta Basin have been displaced with loss of property running into millions of cedis.
So far, nine districts have been affected by the spillage.
Some of the hardest-hit districts include the South, Central, and North Tongu districts in the Volta Region.
According to the group, while they recognize the urgent need for the dam spillage, they strongly believe that the VRA’s “lack of maintenance culture as well as competent forecasting and planning in our governance and bureaucracy” contributed to the high level of havoc caused.
The group has therefore urged the Akufo-Addo administration to, among other things, immediately plan the resettlement of the affected people with full cost borne by the government and set up a high-level committee including the indigenes “to investigate how we got here so that those who were negligent face disciplinary actions”.
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