Government has no plans yet to resettle Victims of the Akosombo Dam Spillage – Energy Minister

Government has no immediate plans for the resettlement of the people displaced by the controlled spillage of excess water from the Akosombo and Kpong Hydro Electric Dams.

This is according to the Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who made a statement on the Floor of Parliament on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, to brief the House on the spillage by the Volta River Authority and its devastating effects on communities along the River Basin.

The Minister informed the House that enough sensitization was done by the Volta River Authority involving many of the communities which have been affected before the spillage began. He justified the timely intervention of the VRA and rejected claims that the Authority had mishandled the situation which had resulted in the disaster.

According to him, failure to decide at the time they did would have compromised the integrity of the dam, and the effect would have been worse.

“If the VRA had not been proactive in spilling this year, the water coming into the reservoir, it would have overtopped the Akosombo Dam, which would have had an unimaginable catastrophic impact on the people,” he said

Answering questions from the media after the Parliamentary briefing, Dr. Matthew Prempeh, indicated that the Government has set up an inter-ministerial Committee that is still working, and until their work is complete, there is nothing concrete available for victims on resettlement.

When he was asked about the resettlement policy for the people by the Government, he retorted by asking who had said so. When he was told that one of the MPs, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, whose constituents had been affected, had made this inquiry on the Floor earlier on, he said, “Then ask Ablakwa what he meant by resettlement policy?”

“I said from last week and I will say again. I will never answer for things I am not responsible for. I said the Government has set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee that is still working. We are not out of the doldrums yet and when we finish, Parliament can inquire from them their report and how they behaved. We will do the necessary things but it is the Committee that has to decide.”

The Minister for Energy who has a supervisory role over the Volta River Authority which is in the middle of the controlled spillage, indicated that the Government finds itself in a very difficult situation in dealing with the situation currently at hand in resettling the people.

“I think that we have a difficult time. Where the flooding has been occurring every year upstream north, there are resettlement packages that are sent to them every year. As soon as the water recedes, the human beings go back to the sites.

“And it is not because of anything; it is because of economic livelihoods. They are either fishermen who want to settle around the coast; or some farmers who want to settle around the best land which is found where the water is. And so, it is a difficult thing which we have to deal with,” he indicated in the interview.

Source: Clement Akoloh || parliamentnews360.com