Move to your family houses, I didn’t spill the water on you – Akosombo Dam spillage victims recount District Engineer’s remarks to them

The caretaker of the Degorme D/A JHS Camp 2 at Mepe in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region, Sophia Abbah, has revealed the ordeal occupants of the place have to go through for their daily survival.

She says it has become difficult to pay for their utilities since the support from the assembly has not been forthcoming as expected.

Narrating their condition at Presbyterian JHS School Park at Mepe during Onua TV’s People’s Assembly Friday, August 09, 2024, Madam Abbah indicated that but for the benevolence of some people and the chief who has been supporting them in some occasions, it would have been difficult to make ends meet.

Narrating the ordeal they have had to go through, she said those victims who are still occupying the camp have to endure hard conditions including being supplied with weevil-infested maize and rice by the Assembly.

Recalling one of the incidents she encountered during her visit to the assembly to demand money for the payment of their water bill, the North Tongu District Engineer allegedly told her he is not the one that poured the water on them, and that they should leave the camp to their family houses.

Meanwhile, Abbah says the homes of some of those occupying the camps are inhabitable after the floods.

“The rice and beans are sometimes spoilt. We had no money for our water bill so I went to the Assembly for the money and the District Engineer told me we should to go to our family house. He also told us he is not the one that spilled the water on us.

Being angry at the time, she said she also responded in equal measure.

“In fact I became so angry so I also told him that I pray his house gets burnt so he can move to his family house.

The young lady who is unemployed at the moment said their DCE returned to call and accuse her of coming over to the assembly to rain insults at the people there.

She said she asked for compensation for the victims so they can move out of the place to wherever they want to.

Meanwhile, she said their Member of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, had to support them with 1,000 to pay their bills and later got disconnected by the Ghana Water Company Limited when they could not pay the rest of the utility.

Speaking about life at the camp, she disclosed that sometimes they are given a sack of gari to share and a whole household’s share is a full cup of the granulated cassava.

She also disclosed that the chief of Mepe and Mepe Development Association have come to their aid most of the time since the disaster occurred.

Also speaking at the event, Nama Aku Seme II, queen of Avetakpo, and sub divisional queen of Mepe Gbanvia Clan, called on benevolent Ghanaians to come to their aid.

According to her, this is the time they need help most, almost a year since the incident, highlighting the fact that the effects of the floods are still lingering.

She said it has become difficult to survive since they have been neglected as a result of the support which is not coming any more.

Apart from devastating people’s homes, farmlands of many of the residents were also destroyed, worsening their economic conditions.

Nama Aku, however, expressed appreciation to the entire nation for their support at the peak of the disaster, especially to those that supported them with gifts of items and money, and called for more.

“Now is when we need help the most. the people feel neglected because no help is coming again. Many women were pregnant and some have given birth others are still giving birth, people have now settled in their homes and they need food. We really appreciate every support we’ve received from Ghanaians but this is the time we need more,” she called.

OnuaOnline’s attempt to get the District Engineer’s side of the story were unsuccessful. That notwithstanding, the team is on alert for the Engineer’s side of the story.

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