Member of Parliament for the North Tongu constituency in the Volta Region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says persons whose negligence at the Volta River Authority (VRA) led to the controlled Akosombo Dam spillage which has displaced thousands of people should resign instead of justifying the incident.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV on Friday, November 17, 2023, the North Tongu MP expressed his frustration at how more than a month after the catastrophe no person at VRA has been punished for causing such a disaster.
“I am extremely happy the right speaker [Alban Sumana Bagbin] has called for an in-depth probe into the spillage by forming the committee on the floor of parliament because someone deserves to go home but rather they are lying to the people who have virtually lost everything and have to start life on a fresh scale,” he added.
Mr. Ablakwa disclosed that measures are underway to build temporary structures in Fojoku, Clamada, and Blonu to serve as camps for the victims of the spillage.
“We have a humanitarian crisis on our hands people have lost everything, imagine waking up one fine morning and suddenly, everything you have worked for your entire life is gone. Your home, certificates, electronic appliances, and savings as we know of the rural areas and their position towards the banking environment, all of these savings are gone, the fishes are gone, and all the investments we have made are all gone because if we remember, not too long ago, I bought combined harvesters for the rice farmers, supporting them whiles creating cooperatives and doing a lot of training all that has been washed away by the flood waters, so we have a huge catastrophe that we are grappling with,” the NDC lawmaker said.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa observed that Mepe, one of the affected areas will never be the same again and it will take the government and other stakeholders decades to reconstruct the community.
“I don’t know how long it is going to take us because every aspect of our country has been affected, all I know is that it is going to take us a very long time to rebuild, it’s also going to take a concerted effort to have all these communities reconstructed, rebuilt the damage is really dire,” Mr. Ablakwa noted.
By: Edem Etsa Dorvlo | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
