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The Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Freda Prempeh has attributed blame to the victims caught in the aftermath of the Akosombo dam spillage, saying their refusal to evacuate worsened the situation.
Speaking at a forum organized by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and its customers in Accra, Hon. Freda noted that the residents had been advised several times to evacuate but did not heed the warnings until it was too late.
She said that while the government and other stakeholders are being blamed for the disaster, the residents also played a role in it.
“We don’t want what has happened in Akosombo to happen to us in Accra. The Akosombo spillage, even though VRA, NADMO, and the Water Resources Commission came together to educate the people in the community and did simulation exercises with them even at Mepe, they refused to leave. They didn’t want to be evacuated; they stayed there till the end when we started spilling,” Hon. Freda said.
The minister also lamented the cost of repairing the damage that has been done.
“Unfortunately, look at what is happening and the government has to spend millions on money on relief items, and education. The water in the whole area is contaminated and the Ghana Water Company and Water Resources Commission will have to spend millions of money to treat the water before we can pass it through our pipes. So a stitch in time saves nine.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to accept the situation. We cannot sit back and allow these things to go on, looking at what is going on. Now people are blaming the government, VRA, and NADMO but these three institutions really did a lot of education right from January,” she asserted.
Over 20,000 people in the Volta and Greater Accra regions have been uprooted from their homes due to the devastating results of the dam spillage.
