Akufo-Addo returns from US, set to visit areas hit by Akosombo Dam spillage

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo returned to the country on October 15 after a four-day official visit to the United States.

The president was in the US on the invitation of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) to deliver a lecture on global security and leadership within the context of West Africa's growing insecurity.

Presidential spokesman announced that the president's immediate engagement upon his return will be visiting flooded areas in the Volta Region as a result of spillage of the Akosombo Dam.

"The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will on Monday, 16th October 2023, visit the districts severely hit by the floods occasioned by the spillage of the Akosombo Dam.

"The President will be joined on this tour by members of the Inter-Ministerial Committee, which has been set up to coordinate Government's response to the flooding and to help bring relief to those affected.

"The President arrives from his 4-day official visit to the United States this evening," his statement of October 15 posted on Facebook concluded.

Chief of Staff, 12 ministers form inter-ministerial committee on floods

Government has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to address recent floods triggered by spillage of the Volta and Kpong Dams by the Volta River Authority (VRA).

The spillage has occasioned massive flooding in communities close to the river especially in Mepe and Aveyime.

An October 13 statement from the Ministry of Information said, president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had ordered the setting-up of the team to “coordinate government’s response to the unfortunate flooding of some communities following spilling from the Volta Dam.”

The thirteen-member committee will be headed by Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare.

The other members of the committee include the Minister of National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah; Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery; Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul; Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh; Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and the Minister of Local Government, Daniel Kwaku Botwe.

Other members are Minister of Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye; Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, Minister for Environment, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie; Minister for Sanitation, Freda Prempeh; Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor and the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.