For the umpteenth time, a Volta Lake accident has claimed lives, most of the victims being children.
The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), the state body mandated to ensure safe use of the lake among other responsibilities, has in reaction issued for the countless time a statement about the dangers posed by unsafe use of the lake.
Considering the tone of the statement and the number of times such reactions have been released in the aftermath of the many Volta Lake avoidable accidents, we are constrained to state that the GMA is unable to manage the situation. Unless stringent measures are adopted to obviate future recurrence of such tragedies, we would be scratching the surface of the problem with such statements.
It is sad that the last statement from the GMA had to do with the non-use of lifejackets by operators on the lake and the dangers posed by the recklessness. The Daily Guide carried the statement and an accompanying picture of passengers on a boat without lifejackets a few months ago.
Clearly, the GMA lacks the enforcement backing to compel boat owners to use lifejackets and to undertake safe practices such as not overloading the boats. The statistics of passengers who have perished on the Volta Lake are not available to us, but the figure should be high.
Why would a body authorised to ensure safe use of the Volta Lake not be given the necessary enforcement backing to compel boat owners to undertake safety measures in the plying of their occupation?
Besides the non-use of lifejackets, boat owners choose overloading to maximise profit to the detriment of the lives of passengers who hardly understand the dangers they are exposed to.
The Volta Lake is not only a fishing point for many fishermen and fishmongers along the long stretch of the body of water, it is also used for movement through boat transport by thousands of persons.
There is therefore need for enforceable regulations for those who use it; there is no option to this unless such mishaps do not touch our hearts as human beings and policymakers.
How many times do we want our compatriots to lose their lives on the river before appropriate actions are taken to obviate future recurrence?
The usual committee set up in the aftermath of an accident has been set up and a time frame given to members to present a report and recommendations. Whatever happened to previous such committees empaneled after similar accidents and the recommendations?
The cause of the accident is not far-fetched; there is no enforcement and those in charge of ensuring that safety practices are maintained are sleeping on their jobs.
The local people, it would appear, lack the necessary education to enable them to appreciate the importance of not patronising overloaded boats and without lifejackets.
It might be costly, but in our opinion, the Ghana Navy detachment on the lake should be engaged for enforcement operations and robustly.