Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Can’t Bagre Dam spillage flooding be managed?

The ritualistic annual spillage of excess water from the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso is here again.

This is done in August or September and due to its devastation, residents living along the White Volta River and its tributaries in Ghana are advised to move to higher grounds or take precautionary measures to prevent being overwhelmed by the resultant flooding.

The Bagre dam was inau­gurated in 1994 and since 1999, spillage from it has been causing flooding disasters in at least 35 communities along the White Volta in the Bawku Mu­nicipality, Bawku West, Garu, Binduri, Nabdam, and Talensi districts.

For instance, last year, the Wa West District in the Upper West Region was one of the hardest hit by the spillage as houses, farmlands, and other places were submerged.

The situation made it difficult for residents to access major social services like healthcare, water, and electric­ity and also undermined their economic activities, chief­ly farming and trading.

Movement from one place to another was seriously hindered for some time as the roads were inundated with water, with some of them getting damaged.

Fortunately, no death was reported but deaths had occurred in previous spillag­es. For instance, 10 people were killed in 2014; 34 were estimated dead in 2018, and six in 2020.

What this means is that while the Burkinabe authori­ties spill water from the Bagre dam to save their irrigation facility from collapse, their well-intentioned act causes ripple effects on Ghana.

The warning or advice from the Volta River Authority to residents living along the White Volta River and its tributaries to move to higher grounds or take precautionary measures to prevent being flooded as a result of the spillage of the Barge Dam in Burkina Faso means the usual flooding associated with the spillage cannot be written off this year as in previous ones.

We are praying that there will be no deaths this year because even one lost life is too many for the country to bear.

But for how long should the country go through this ordeal of farmlands, houses, and social amenities getting submerged by flooding from a planned action?

How long should the coun­try look on for the needless deaths and injuries to occur as a result of the spillage of the Bagre Dam?

Are the poor people who suffer from the flooding compensated for their losses, because it is not their fault to suffer “a man-made disaster” in their God-given lands?

We are not talking about relief items given by the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) or the Red Cross.

There must be a permanent solution to the flooding that results from the Bagre spillage and brings sorrow to innocent people.

Can the government not undertake a special project of creating dams that are large enough along the White Volta to collect the floodwaters for irrigation and other purposes?

Sadly, managers of the country always have “the no-money” excuse for projects that can bring relief to the country but have none when it comes to elections in particular.

Governments are supposed to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the populace and so if the government is not doing that, it can be deemed as a betrayal or aban­donment of the people.

It is about time the government did an assessment of place-specific problems across the country and solved them.

No problem defies solution unless the powers that be ignore them or find excuses to deceive the people.

Why should the flooding associated with the spillage of the Bagre Dam and attendant deaths and other losses persist since 1999?

For once, let the government (politicians) show their touted love for Ghanaians in projects and programs that will bring them great relief rather than the mere words they express to console suffer­ing citizens.