Minister weeps for the people Lower Volta Basin

Accra, Dec.16, GNA – Ms Akua Sena Dansuwa, Minister of Tourism, on Thursday expressed sympathy for the inhabitants of the Lower Volta Basin whose means of livelihood have been adversely affected by the construction of the Kpong hydro-electricity dam.

“The people of the Upper Volta Basin, especially the North Dayi Constituency of which I am the Member of Parliament share in the pain of our brothers and sisters in the Lower Volta Basin”.

Ms Dansuwa, who was speaking at the launch of a book titled “The Volta River: Electric generation and poverty at the crossroads” in Accra, specifically mentioned communities such as Akuse, Bator Adidome, Amedeka and Asutsuare, which bore the brunt of Ghana’s second hydro dam.

. She indicated that the objective of the 120-page book, which was authored by Mr Ebenezer Dzabaku, a philanthropist and social advocate for deprived communities in the Lower Volta Basin was not to attack the Volta River Authority (VRA) per se but to bring out facts concerning the deprivation of the people which would help policy makers, institutions and the VRA to appreciate their plight and offer relief.

Ms Dansuwa assured the people in the area of the government’s commitment to provide development projects and programmes to make life less burdensome.

She said very soon, the problems with regard to the provision of infrastructure, social amenities and employment opportunities to the youth of the area would be tackled by the government.

Mr Francis Opai Tetteh, a former youth leader of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), who reviewed the book, said the publication was a masterpiece that chronicled the history of the construction of both the Akosombo and the Kpong dams.

He said the book also described how some communities in the country had to sacrifice their livelihood for national development.

He recommended the book for the Ghanaian reading public and said it would be appropriate copies were kept in public places and libraries, whiles others too found their way into private libraries.

Mr Ebenezer Dzabaku, author of the book, said before the construction of the Kpong dam, the life and the environment of the people of the Lower Volta Basin was friendly and productive.

He said during that time, the Volta River was at its nature’s best; there was oyster winning by women, whiles the annual flooding, creation of creeks and lagoons, helped in large-scale vegetation and crop farming.

He said despite the sacrifices made by the communities in the Lower Volta Basin for the construction of the Kpong Dam, they had been subjected to grinding poverty, diseases, lack of access to good education, sanitation, good roads and basic utilities like electricity and potable water.

Mr Dzabaku also stated that from 1962 to date, about 30,000 people, especially the youth, had fled from the communities in the Lower Volta Basin to Accra, Tema, Ashaiman, and the Afram Plains.

He said unlike other dam sites which were deliberately developed into tourist and economic havens, the construction of the Kpong Dam brought about untold suffering to the people of the Lower Volta Basin.

He said the book also outlined in great detail the potential of the area which could serve as a hub for future modernization of Ghana