Akosombo dam spillage: ‘Let’s chase away the cat and tame the mouse at the appropriate time’ – Asiedu Nketia on need for answers from VRA

Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) believes the Volta River Authority (VRA) need to answer some questions regarding the effect of the spillage they made from the Akosombo and Kpong dams.

Johnson Asiedu Nketia says this is the first time such debilitating effect has been recorded from a spillage, the reason for questions to be asked.

An exercise which begun on September 15 this year has caused devastating effect on many homes and farmlands along the Lower Volta Basin submerging people’s houses and plantation.

The floods, which does not appear to be receding any time soon, due to the level of water in the dam increasing, with more spillages yet to be done, calls have come for the VRA to explain why it reneged on its responsibility of ensuring residents along the area were evacuated before the action was carried out.

Speaking to some flood victims in the affected areas after donating some relief items on behalf of former President Mahama, the NDC Chairman said explained why the VRA must answer questions over the exercise.

“The effect of water spillage over the years has not been this devastating. There are questions that are supposed to be asked,” he noted.

Meanwhile, he says the call for the Authority to answer questions does not suggest that is being prioritised over the relief items needed by the people.

“I will not say that we should stop the relief activity and pursuing the causes. Let us chase away the cat and the appropriate time we will have to tame the mouse,” he added.

For his part, the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, speaking to the residents expressed the caucus’s intention to probe the matter, having criticised the VRA for not being proactive.

“We are disappointed in the Volta River Authority (VRA). We believe that their conduct has not been good enough. They have not engaged the communities and we in the NDC particularly in parliament will investigate this matter. We urge the energy committee from our side to start the processes to institute a probe for this matter immediately,” he indicated.