Dam Spillage: There was policy and planning failure between VRA and Ghana Meteo - Edudzi Tamakloe

The Head of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe has shared his view about the ongoing Akosombo Dam spillage and the resulting humanitarian crisis.

He highlighted what he sees as policy and planning failures between the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Ghana Meteorological Agency (Ghana Meteo).

The Akosombo Dam spillage has led to the displacement of nearly 12,000 people living downstream.

The homes and settlements of these persons have been submerged by the excess water.

During an appearance on Accra-based TV3, Edudzi Tamakloe emphasised the seriousness of the current humanitarian crisis, describing it as an unprecedented event since the 1960s.

He suggested that policy and planning failure has led to the current situation.

“I think that we need to put matters in proper perspective. This particular humanitarian crisis we are seeing, like I pointed earlier, from the 1960s we have not had any situation close to this. You would notice and from observation there has been a serious question of policy failure and planning. The level we are seeing today is simply because people went home to sleep and in these times when they were sleeping, the water kept on rising,” he said.

He mentioned that there have been reports suggesting that both the Ghana Meteo and VRA are blaming each other for the situation.

“I have read reports that suggest that between the Ghana Meteo and VRA, they are blaming each other. One is saying that we rely on your data which suggested that this year the drought and rainfall analysis will not result in this. So they relied on that particular data or information and went to sleep. But in July, things took a different turn and the water level started increasing,” he noted.

He further clarified that the increased volume of water causing the problem did not solely originate from Ghana's rainfall patterns. Instead, it was influenced by water from neighbouring countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso.

He emphasised the need for a more proactive approach to avoid such crises in the future.

“In fact if they had started the process of regulated spillage even around May, things would have been different.

“Because, according to VRA, the data from the Ghana Meteo which suggested that the rainfall pattern this year will not be anything extraordinary. But you will notice that the increased volume is not coming from the rainfall pattern within Ghana. But water from outside the country; that is from Mali, Burkina Faso and the rest. So, they went to sleep and that is what has caused the problem,” he added.

He continued, “If they were a bit proactive we wouldn't be where we are.

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