Slow down Akosombo dam spillage to help evacuation efforts – Ablakwa to VRA

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has urged the Volta River Authority (VRA) to slow down the spillage of the Akosombo dam to allow for the safe evacuation of residents.

The spillage of the dam has caused widespread flooding in the Tongu districts, displacing thousands of people and destroying homes and businesses.

The VRA in September cautioned residents downstream of Akosombo and Kpong dams to be alert and take precautionary measures following a controlled spillage in the coming days.

This was due to the consistent rise in the water level of the two dams as a result of the continuous rains recently.

But Mr Ablakwa in an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Wednesday urged “the VRA to slow down the discharge a bit to make sure that all our compatriots are relocated to higher ground. Because of the strength, it is causing a lot of devastation.”

He added that the situation was a difficult one and used the opportunity to call for relief items for the affected people.

Also, the MP for the Central Tongu Constituency, Alexander Roosevelt described as precarious the situation his constituency was in, following the spillage of the dam.

He said that a total of 30 communities in his constituency had been affected and that he was currently visiting them to assess the level of damage and how to address it.

“My brother the situation is very precarious … Houses are submerged, even electricity is affected… People are hungry. Everywhere is submerged. To be frank, when you get here when you step on the ground you will be sinking. So the situation is very precarious, and I have 30 communities in my constituency affected, and I am visiting them one by one,” he stated.

Confucius Caradox Bedzina, Central Tongu Youth Leader called on the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) as well as other well-meaning Ghanaians to send in some relief items to help abate the plights of the affected.