Almost four weeks after the Akosombo dam spillage, some affected victims are still struggling to access basic amenities at the places to which they have been relocated.
Including women and children, they sleep in classrooms without windows; they have no mattresses or blankets; no place of convenience, while they could no longer bath with the Aklafu stream because it is contaminated and causes body itching.
The about 1, 483 displaced persons in the Asutsuare enclave were relocated from Kotoko, Ada-Kope, Djorkpo and Abuviekpor, Tsikpotekope, Lawoenya, Agamakope, Kobishiekope
Out of the number, 250 of them are currently taking shelter at the Tokpo Roman Catholic School in the Shai Osusoku District in the Greater Accra Region with the others staying with relatives in nearby communities.
They have therefore appealed to the government, benevolent individuals and organisations in the country and beyond to go to their aid, as life has become unbearable for them.
They made the appeal when the former Parliamentary aspirant for the Shai Osudoku constituency, Professor Michael Kpessa-Whyte, presented assorted items to the victims at Tokpo and three other communities on Saturday.
The items valued at GH¢ 250,000 include mosquito nets, canned fish, beans, gari, used clothing and two trucks of sachet water were packaged in collaboration with Food for All, a non-governmental organisation.
One of the victims, Angela Alorfor, told the Ghanaian Times that they had lost every possession and could not purchase food or sanitary pads for their daughters.
She said their farms which used to be their livelihoods had been submerged while their children are also not going to school.
Another victim, Ebenezer Agamah, said he would personally hold the Volta River Authority liable for their present predicament, explaining that the authority should have dredged the downstream close to the Ada Estuary before the spillage which could have allowed more water into the sea.
He said he has lost every possession and was now dependent on other people for food.
Presenting the items , Prof. Kpessah-Whyte described the destruction caused by the spillage as heart breaking, and said he was touched by the plight of the people especially because he grew up in that affected area.
He said aside the items, he had also deployed some rubber boats at vantage points to help rescue people that could be trapped.
He urged the government to declare a state of emergency in the affected communities to allow institutions and organisations to freely donate to the people.
Meanwhile, the First Sky Group Limited has donated assorted relief items worth GH¢ 1 million to displaced persons in the Volta Region.
The items included 800 bags of rice; 250 mattresses; 2,000 bottles of cooking oil; sugar; 1,000 bags of sachet water ;10 boxes of milo; bale of adult, children and baby clothing; toiletries and sanitary pads.
At a handover ceremony at Battor, the North Tongu District capital on Thursday, the Chairman of First Sky Group Limited, Eric Seddy Kutortse, said the gesture was not only in line with the company’s corporate social responsibility but it was meant to serve as a beacon of hope for the affected residents.
He said the company would put up a temporary tent for the displaced people to enable the school children to resume academic work in their classrooms, where the affected people were currently lodging.
He assured the chiefs and people of his continuous support to supplement efforts by the government.
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Ablakwa Okudzeto, expressed gratitude to First Sky Group for the kind gesture, and pledged that the items would be distributed evenly among victims.
The District Chief Executive for North Tongu, Divine Osborn Fenu, said he was overwhelmed by the show of love from the First Sky Group Limited and urged organisations to emulate their gesture.
It is recalled that on September 15, 2023, the Volta River Authority started a controlled spill from the Akosombo and Kpong dams due to the heavy rainfall in the Volta River catchment, resulting in a fast rise in the water level at Akosombo Dam.
By the beginning of October, the water level was still rising rapidly, exceeding the maximum operating level of 276 feet and following more rains and rise in the water level, the spillage was increasing leading to flooding that has resulted in loss of property running into millions of cedis.
FROM: LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU, TOKPO (GAR)
