Residents of the Mepe Traditional Area have been urged not to feel ashamed or anxious in seeking help towards the rebuilding of the area.
This comes after several parts of the community got devastated by floods following the Volta River Authority’s spillage of the Akosombo Dam almost a year ago.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who is making the admonishment, highlighted the havoc the disaster has caused the people, expressing the need for all hands to be on deck in bringing the community back to its shape.
In a statement delivered by Kofi Amoatey, counsel to the Speaker, on his behalf Saturday, August 10, 2024, during the grand durbar of the 68th Mepe Afenorto Festival, he reemphasised the need in supporting the victims in acquiring their physical needs in such times.
“While we express gratitude to God for the lives we have today even after all that Mepe went through last year, we are not ignorant of the physical needs crucial to Mepe in these tough times. We have our roles, as humans, to play. The disaster of a flood that struck us here posed a heavy threat to health and food security.
“Again, it destabilized the education of our children, our future leaders. Businesses were destroyed. Our cherished Mepe Traditional Area was brought to its knees. I say all these for you to know that we, as leaders of government business in different capacities, share in these challenges and none of you, child or adult, should be ashamed, hesitant or anxious in seeking assistance towards the rebuilding of this traditional area,” he urged.
The Speaker further encouraged the political class to also contribute their quota in supporting the people since issues relating to disaster management is better with a synergism effort.
“To the Volta Regional Minister, Members of Parliament of constituencies in Volta, DCEs and MCEs, we must ensure that the commitment of our energies is directed to Mepe and all its neighboring communities that suffered the dam spillage to ensure an excellent comeback. Issues of disaster management like what we have here is most effective with synergy in the room,” he stated.
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.
