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The predicament of residents of the Volta region resulting from the spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong dams is not a natural disaster but a humanitarian catastrophe created by the Volta River Authority (VRA), Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, has averred.
This, according to the lawmaker, warrants a compensation from the Authority to the affected residents.
Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa speaking after President Akufo-Addo’s visit to some affected areas Monday, October 16, 2023, to get firsthand information on the impact of the floods and the way forward noted Ghana needed an engineering solution to the problem to prevent it from recurring.
“We have a humanitarian crisis, people don’t have access to relief items. In times like this we must also be talking about a compensation plan. What is the plan to compensate because this is not a natural disaster. This is VRA really not being fair to us. They took us for granted, they have violated our rights, they have created this humanitarian disaster, all of these losses, which really if you want to quantify, –the losses, –will run into millions.
“Livelihoods have been destroyed and all of these were avoidable if VRA had done its work well, –had begun spilling gradually many weeks ago…, so, I will demand a probe into this affair, people must not get away, so that most importantly, there will be reforms and this will not recur,” he stated, adding that “we must prevent this from happening and of course we must be thinking of an engineering solution as a country because we don’t feel safe.”
The legislator has also been explaining to TV3’s Joseph Armstrong, the rationale behind his Mobile Relief Caravan which he says is not politically motivated.
He explains the aim to ensure all the camps created for the flood victims are adequately catered for when it comes to the relief items meant for them.
“My concern at this point is not about elections. I’m thinking about saving lives, making sure that my people are protected so that they can keep body and soul together in the various 19 camps that have been established, that is why today I launched the MP’s Mobile Relief Caravan. We have developed a system that will ensure that all relief items will efficiently reach the entire 19 camps that have been established. I do not want us to politicise this development,” he noted.
Some areas in the Volta region near the Lower Volta Basin have had their abodes and farmlands submerged by flood waters after the VRA spilled the Akosombo and Kpong dams for reaching their maximum levels.
Residents have been displaced since with some others trapped in between the floods for days. Opinion leaders and victims alike have been calling for evacuation, adding that the VRA refused to inform them about the spillage.
Meanwhile, the VRA says it informed some stakeholders about the development in September.
Some relief items have been delivered to the victims so far with more expected to go since more floods are expected to come pending the VRA’s plans to release more water from the dams due to the heavy rains from northern part of the country.
The President’s visit was also to gather firsthand information on the incident with his inter-ministerial committee led by the Chief of Staff who would be coordinating reports for the government on the enormity of the disaster and what needs to be given to the respective victims.
READ ALSO: Akosombo, Kpong dams spillage: Keta MP threatens to sue VRA for damage caused constituents
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