By Francis Kwabena Cofie
As part of its emergency preparedness plan, the Volta River Authority (VRA) in collaboration with the Shai Osudoku District Assembly in the Greater Accra Region, have organized a stakeholder’s engagement forum at Asutsuare to sensitize the people, including nearby communities on precautionary steps towards future dam spillage.
It was attended by communities such as Kadjanya, Asutsuare,Osuwem,Duokpo,Tokpo, Huapa, among others.
Addressing participants after deliberations, Mr Benjamin Sackey, Director of Environment and Development of VRA, commended the National Disaster and Management Organization (NADMO) for their invaluable role in managing the distress situation during the 2023 spillage.
He said, the last time there was a spillage of that magnitude was in 2010, adding that, even then it did not create the kind of after- effects experienced last year.
According to him, a lot of recommendations have been made since last year’s disaster, urging all stakeholders to see to it implementation.
He said, “We have learnt our lessons with the 2023 spillage and going forward, we hope the impact would be minimal”.
He called on the Assembly to roll out the District Contingency Plan in due course, which caters for all forms of disasters in the district.
Mr Sackey, appealed to the assembly and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area of the need to create a disaster fund to support people during such emergencies.
He indicated that, the date of the next precautionary spillage would be communicated in due course, adding that community members, should refrain from listening to hearsays or relying on social media for information on the scheduled spillage, but rather contact the VRA for any such information.
The Presiding Member for Shai Osudoku District Assembly, Noah Sabutey, who represented the District Chief Executive, appealed to the people not to build close to the river bank in view of the hazards of that situation.
To this effect, he said a taskforce has been put in place to educate the people, so that whoever wants to build, would contact the assembly for guidance before doing so.
He thanked all donor agencies for providing the much needed support during last year’s spillage disaster.
On his part, the Community RelationsManager of VRA, Samuel Fletcher, indicated to participants that VRA ,has the mandate of sensitizing the people along the lower Volta basin concerning potential spillages.
He said, as part of recommendations from the last spillage, it has become necessary to inform the people of any impending spillage to help them prepare for any eventuality going forward, which he quickly added, would be minimal as compared to the spillage last year.
In a presentation, the Head of the Shai Osudoku District NADMO Cordinator, Nana Asante Boateng, mentioned that there was the need to create water reservoirs to harvest excess water for farming in future spillages.
He said 15 communities, including Abuvienu, Adokope, Asilevikope, Tokpo, Tsikpoteyekope, Walekukope and Djokpo, were heavily affected by last year’s spillage which rendered many individuals homeless and caused extensive damage to households.
He also added his voice to the creation of an emergency disaster fund by VRA, to alleviate the plight of affected communities during spillages.
Making a presentation on behalf of the VRA, an Engineer with the Water Resources and Renewable Energy Department, Akosua Owusu- Efaa, said for the impending spillage, flooding of homes was not expected, except for buildings along the river channel which would be minimal.
According to her, Eastern, Greater Accra and Volta Regions, are the key regions the impact would be affected by the spillage.
She attributed some of the effects of last year’s spillage to the location of some affected communities within close distance from the Volta River and flood prone areas.
The Acting Chief of Asutsuare and Divisional Chief of Tsangmer Osudoku, Nene Narh Guamatsu IV, said the Osudoku Traditional Council, expressed a lot of displeasure about last year’s spillage and called on VRA to use the occasion to properly sensitize inhabitants to prevent a future occurrence.
In an open forum, a participant called on VRA, to refrain from imposing energy bills on residents living along the river bank, who were affected by the spillage.
