The Mepe Development Association (MDA) has expressed strong disapproval of the recent comments made by the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Freda Prempeh, regarding the Akosombo Dam spillage and its consequences.
Freda Prempeh, during a forum organized by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and its customers in Accra on Monday, linked the significant damage caused by the Akosombo Dam spillage to the hesitance of residents living along the dam to evacuate.
She noted that “the Akosombo dam spillage, even though Volta River Authority, National Disaster Management Organisation, the Water Resources Commission, came together to educate the people in the community and did simulation exercises with them even at Mepe, yet, they refused to leave. They did not want to be evacuated, and they stayed there till the end when we started spilling.”
“Unfortunately, look at what is happening, and the government has to spend millions of 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.”
In reaction to the Minister’s statements, the Mepe Development Association (MDA) vehemently criticized the remarks in which she assigned responsibility to the residents of Mepe and other communities downstream along the Volta River for failing to heed evacuation warnings before the Akosombo Dam spillage.
The MDA also challenged the Minister’s claims that the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) had carried out simulation exercises in Mepe to prepare residents for the spillage.
“We wish to make it clear that the Mepe Traditional Council, Mepe Development Association, opinion leaders, and all key stakeholders were not engaged in any simulation exercise or post-simulation exercise as claimed by the Minister,” the statement said.
