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Opinions of Tuesday, 7 November 2023

Columnist: Lawrence Appiah-Osei

The man-made Volta Lake spillage

A file photo A file photo

So, do you think if Ghana had a working president, this Volta Lake spillage would have occurred?

In other words. If the CEO/MD of the Volta River Authority (VRA) knew any mismanagement of the Volta spillage could cost him his job, would the management of the spillage be handled in this haphazard way?

It’s like, let’s intentionally cause the mess and then later explain and explain.

When people, since 2018 called for the reshuffle of the ministers/CEOs/MDs of Nana Addo’s government, some defended it and thought they were hurting only the NDC folks. They now see that because there is no working president in Ghana to do a reshuffle, we have the biggest spillage mess in the history of Ghana. They are still talking as if the rest of us don’t think and so don’t know.

Let’s assume the CEO/MD and the Engineers at VRA don’t know the protocols for risk damage, is this the first time there has been a spillage from the Volta lake? The last one was done in 2010, so why didn’t they just follow what was done in 2010 or is it because an NDC government did it?

The NPP and VRA’s defense now is that if they had not opened the lake to spill and the lake broke by itself, it would cover the whole of Tema township, Greater Accra, Eastern, Brong, and Northern Regions. They should stop annoying us the more.

Who has argued that they shouldn’t have opened the lake to spill? It is the haphazard way they handled the management before, during, and after the spill, we are talking about. They should take responsibility, apologize, and compensate the affected people. That is what good leaders do.

The NPP and the VRA leadership are saying they communicated the spill and the relocation to the affected people. The MPs in those constituencies and the affected people are also saying there was no such communication. So, even communicating an eminent danger, these NPP government and VRA leadership failed?

Nana Akufo-Addo went there to do his usual politics and in the end, insulted the chiefs and people of Volta Region. The NPP is saying, he was just joking and that we shouldn’t do politics with the spillage. Why would they not say so?

Didn’t Kwabena Agyepong say in the EC strong room that there are no human beings in the Volta Region? Who punished him for saying that?

From where I sit, I can say that the Volta Lake spillage is man-made, intended to cover up something. It could be Cecilia Dapaah and the Special Prosecutor, Prof. Frimpong Boateng, and the Attorney General or their failed presidential election campaign, which seem not to catch any fire.

The spillage could also be used to plan something with the EC or another big scandal coming up, maybe, bigger than the Lithium contract.

The NPP will not deliberately cause such a big mess unless they have something bigger than the mess coming up.

NDC and Ghanaians better watch out. I am just a messenger, writing from the US.