We live in a world of contradictions, but these contradictions keep the world going …. Kwame Nkrumah, January 1966
This may not be the time to re-examine the history or the longer story of the construction of the Akosombo Dam which was conceptualized in 1950, and finally constructed in 1965.
It may not be the time to fantasize the story of Akosombo over Ajena for the siting of the dam; not to embellish the story of the urge for how much electricity to work on bauxite. This may certainly not be the time to romanticise the construction of the Saint Barbara Catholic Church to memorialize the death of 12 VRA workers by explosion in 1964.
Or the total cost of $258 funded by the World Bank, the United Kingdom and the United States but being the largest single investment in the economic development plans of Ghana.
There will be a time to reflect on the journey Dr. Kwame Nkrumah took to the U.S. to negotiate with the U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower in 1961 for the construction of the dam. A time will come when the proper story of the electricity generated by the Akosombo Dam sold to Togo and Benin (that lulled Togo to “sleep” on the Adjarala Dam on Togo’s Mono River).
The Dam’s construction began in 1961 and was inaugurated in 1965, feeding the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) Tema for producing aluminium from alumina, itself from bauxite.
This is the time to respond to the destruction of the over 738, villages and over 28,000 people. The simple thing to say is that the spillage of the water in the dam was an act of man – an engineering necessity to save the integrity of the dam.
If you are not living along the banks of the river and, therefore, not affected by the flooding, you will think it is a simple thing just telling the inhabitants there to move to safe havens … up there.
You will think it is a simple exercise of people moving from their residences leaving their hard-earned property, farm-lands and ancestral remains behind. You will come to grips with the Noah story (in Genesis chapter 6) where the “heavens opened” for forty days.
The biblical story is similar to Uthapishtim’s story of Gilgamesh in which there were seven days of continuous rain, which destroyed Gilgamesh, leaving the boat and the people on a mountainous area, a story written over 2000 years before Christ was born.
In the Noah’s story, you will ask: “why did Lot’s wife (named Idith) turn into a pillar of salt after turning to look at the destruction? The Sodom and Gomorrah story is not the same as the spillage of the Akosombo Dam. The latter is man-made: and, therefore, more scientific and plain than the biblical one and the flood swallowed up a whole world.”
The boisterousness and vivacity of Mepe are lost. Life in this town of North Tongu District of Volta Region inhabited by Ewes, Akwamus, Akyems has ground to a halt.
Mamagah Adzo Tsreku the queen mother of Mepe alleges that the Volta Regional Minister Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa denied the inhabitants the opportunity to present a petition to President Akufo-Addo when the President visited the area on Tuesday to ascertain the situation on the ground after the spillage. She says: “The situation is very terrible, but people come on TV and radio to paint the picture that all is well when it is not. The Regional Minister told us the content of the petition was harsh so he took it and said he would present it himself.”
The government has set up an interim – Ministerial Committee, headed by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare. It consists of Ministers for National Security, Interior, Defence, Sanitation, Energy, Finance, Lands and Natural Resources, Local Government, Works and Housing, Roads and Highways, Environment and Information.
The Committee is “to work collaboratively to assess the situation, identify the most pressing needs and implement measures to mitigate the impact of the flooding on affected residents.” People are asking why the Minister of Health is not included in the list because the area is disease ridden – with snake bites, bilharzia, reportedly common place.
Okudzeto – Ablakwa who is the Member of Parliament for North Tongu has been working as far as humanly possible to assist the affected people of the area. He rescued some people trapped by the floods.
He noted: “I commend all my courageous constituents for the outstanding show of solidarity, compassion, and community spirit in helping each other survive this unprecedented disaster … I wish to render special praise to the youth who volunteered night and day to rescue the vulnerable and salvage properties – You are true heroes… During my tour, I distributed free life jackets, made relocation, transportation arrangements and established a fund with seed money of GH¢30,000 to assist victims in need of further emergency support……”
Looking at the picture, Mepe appears to be in an area fit to be described as “an ox-bow region”, with the river meandering around the town.
Offers of assistance or shall we call them “relief items” of food and water keep pouring in for the victims; but at the end of it all, the victims will need shelter. We believe the committee will be up to the task to sort the people out. Some are talking about Sagliemi Housing Project will all the controversies surrounding it. Fortunately, the Project is not too far from the area inundated with the spillage.”
Of course, the Volta River Authority will have to answer some questions. Why were the affected people not informed in good time? What alternative arrangements were made to contain the situation?
Year in year out, people along the Volta River in the Northern part of Ghana suffer some of these episodes especially when the Burkina Faso authorities open the Bagri Dam. People get displaced; property get lost and destroyed, and life appears to come to an end for some people.
There are various reports of certain countries suffering from floods. Last month, Western Cape in South Africa suffered heavy flooding. In Cameroon floods and landslides left over 30 people dead in Mabankolo District in Yaoundé, the capital city. In Guatemala, 19 people were feared missing after flash floods in Guatemala city. And in Brazil, flood waters wreaked havoc in Santa Catarina. A total of 15,000 people have been affected by the Brazil floods in other places. In the case of Santa Catarina, the government Jorginho Mello had ordered the gradual and controlled opening of the floodgates of the Ituporanga and Talo Dams. A state of emergency has been declared in all these affected places, and the world is watching how the events are settled.
We in Ghana are still praying for greater reliefs, pray for the technology that Holland has to construct dykes that save the citizens from the towns even though they are way down below sea level.
africanusoa@gmail.com
By Africanus Owusu-Ansah