Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has disclosed the government has no immediate plans for the resettlement of people displaced by the controlled spillage of excess water from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams.
According to him, the government has already set up an inter-ministerial Committee that is still working and stressed until their work is complete, there are no immediate plans for relocation.
The Minister addressed Parliament in a statement on Wednesday November 8, 2023, on the spillage by the Volta River Authority and the devastation that followed.
The spillage caused serious flooding in communities along the lower Volta basin completely submerging vast swathes of land and rendering residents homeless.
Responding to some pertinent questions from the media afterward, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh argued the majority of those affected by the spillage had already been located because of such incidents but stressed they always return when the water subsides.
“This is not the first time excess water in the Akosombo Dam is being spilled. I think that we have a difficult time on our hands.”
“Where the flooding has been occurring every year upstream in the north, there are resettlement packages that are sent to them every year but as soon as the water recedes, these people go back to the sites.”
“However, it is not because of anything; it is because of economic livelihoods. They are either fishermen who want to settle around the coast; or farmers who want to settle around the best land which is found where the water is. And so, it is a difficult thing which we have to deal with,” he stated.
The Minister informed the House that enough sensitization was done by the Volta River Authority involving many of the communities which have been affected before the spillage began.
He rejected claims that the VRA had mishandled the situation which had resulted in the disaster and justified the timely intervention of the Authority.
According to him, failure to decide at the time they did would have compromised the integrity of the dam, and the effect could have been worse.
“If the VRA had not been proactive in spilling the water coming into the reservoir this year, it would have overtopped the Akosombo Dam, which would have had an unimaginable catastrophic impact on the people,” he added.