MPs call for halt to evictions

Accra, April 13, GNA - The Volta Region Parliamentary Caucus of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Thursday called for the immediate halt to what it described as "inhuman eviction" of settlers from Digyah Island.

The Caucus demanded the immediate resettlement of the survivors of the recent boat accident on the Volta Lake and all others who were evicted from the area.

A statement, Mr Gershon K.B. Gbediame, MP and Secretary to the Caucus signed expressed shock and dismay at the unfortunate and unnecessary loss of precious lives in the boat disaster that occurred on the Volta Lake on Saturday April 8, this year in which unspecified number of people died.

It said the victims were forcefully evicted from the place they had called home and crammed into a boat, which was supposed to transport them from Digyah Islands in the Afram Plains to Tepa Abotoase in the Volta Region.

The statement said the group was part of over 10,000 people mostly farmers and fishermen of Volta Region extraction who had lived and worked in the Afram plains as peace-loving Ghanaians for over thirty year.

"We are saddened at the fact that despite earlier press reports of the "cruel and barbaric" methods used by officials of the Game and Wildlife Department, the evictions continued culminating in the forcible cramming of over 150 people and their personal effects into a boat too small for the number", the statement said.

It called on the President to institute, as a matter of urgency, an independent enquiry into the whole exercise to determine the truth in the matter.

"We hereby assure the victims and their families that we would do everything within the framework of the rule of law to ensure that justice and fairness is not denied them in this matter", it added. 13 April 06