Life after the floods: Story of a 6-year-old orphan spotted by Onua Maakye at Mepe flood disaster camp

Almost a year after the Akosombo Dam spillage that caused devastating effects to the lives of residents of Mepe and its environs in the North Tongu district of the Volta Region, some residents are still living at the camps.

As part of Onua TV’s People’s Assembly in the community ahead of its 68th Afenorto festival, the team visited the communities to find out how the residents were faring after the floods.

At the Degorme D/A JHS Camp 2, the Maakye team spotted a six-year-old orphan at the camp whose condition demands urgent attention. His uncle who is now taking care of him is also unemployed.

The condition of the young boy, who had not eaten as at almost 11am when the team spotted him, was suffering from skin rashes due to the insect bites they have been experiencing at the camp.

Speaking with the leader of the camp, Sophia Abbah, she said they have to work as labourers at construction sites before they can take care of themselves.

That is the same means she said they adopt to send the pregnant women amongst them to the hospital.

She added that although they sometimes receive some help from the chiefs and the Mepe Development Assembly (MDA), it has not been consistent, leaving them to find means to fend for themselves sometimes.

The Akosombo Dam spillage

Residents of the North Tongu district, especially those from the Mepe community, suffered severe consequences of the Akosombo Dam spillage, a crisis that displaced thousands of indigenous people in the affected areas.

The Akosombo Dam, with its staggering 150 billion cubic meters storage capacity and a maximum operating level of 276 feet, has long been a crucial source of hydroelectric power for Ghana.

A significant increase in rainfall, according to managers of the Dam, the Volta River Authority (VRA), pushed water levels beyond the dam’s maximum operating capacity. According to the VRA, the Dam was faced with the risk of failure, therefore necessitating the spillage.

The exercise commenced on September 15, 2023, initially at a discharge rate of 183,000 cubic feet per second (cfs/day), which was later increased on October 9 due to the continued rise of the water level.

With the town of Mepe being the hardest-hit community, initial reports indicated that 8,000 individuals were displaced across eight communities, but the numbers skyrocketed to an alarming 31,000 as of October 19 2023. Families have been uprooted from their homes, losing their belongings and sources of livelihood overnight.

The spillage also had a profound impact on education in the region. Schools were forced to close, leaving pupils and students without access to education. The interruption in learning could have long-term consequences for the affected children, depriving them of their right to education and hindering their future prospects.

Calls came for the government to provide immediate assistance, including temporary shelter, food, clean water, and medical aid, to alleviate the suffering of affected communities.

About the Akosombo Dam

The Akosombo Dam, also known as the Volta Dam, is a hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge and part of the Volta River Authority.

The primary purpose of the Akosombo Dam was to provide electricity for the aluminium industry. The Akosombo Dam is the largest single investment in the economic development plans of Ghana. The dam is significant for providing both Togo and Benin’s electricity, although the construction of the Adjarala Dam (on Togo’s Mono River) hopes to reduce these countries’ reliance on imported electricity. The dam’s original electrical output was 912 megawatts (1,223,000 hp), which was upgraded to 1,020 megawatts (1,370,000 hp) in a retrofit project that was completed in 2006.

In 1961, the Volta River Authority (VRA) was established by Ghana’s Parliament through the passage of the Volta River Development Act. The VRA’s fundamental operations were structured by six board members with Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as Chairman.

The construction of the Akosombo Dam resulted in the flooding of part of the Volta River Basin and its upstream fields, and in the creation of Lake Volta which covers 3.6% of Ghana’s total land area.

Lake Volta was formed between 1962 and 1966 and necessitated the relocation of about 80,000 people, who represented 1% of the population. People of 700 villages were relocated into 52 resettlement villages two years prior to the dam’s completion; the resettlement programme was under the direction of the VRA.

The last time the Akosombo Dam community experienced flooding as a result of a controlled spillage of the dam was in 2010.

Source:onuaonline.com