Residents, fisherfolks in Asuogyaman affected by VRA spillage share their woes

The ongoing controlled spillage at the Akosombo and Kpong dams, in the Eastern Region since September 15 by the Volta River Authority (VRA) continues to affect almost all the communities along the lower Volta Basin.

Some communities in the Asuogyaman District downstream the two dams are having their fair share of the activity, with residents and fisherfolks badly affected in the process.

The spillage has heavily contaminated the water body with residents who relied on its contents for various domestic activities unable to do so now.

Some of the affected communities include Kudikope, Ahenbrom, Kokonte Kpedzi, Abume, Dzidzokope, Mama kope, amongst others.

While some houses in the aforementioned communities have collapsed, fish cages have also been either badly damaged or swept away, resulting in large quantities of fish dying or being washed away.

GhanaWeb has visited some communities in the Asuogyaman District where members of some affected communities who hitherto relied on the contents of the Volta Lake for all domestic chores including drinking say the water body is now polluted beyond use, forcing them to rely on the only borehole in the area.

The ruins of several mud houses lay submerged in the water as the buildings came down under the force of the spillage.

The affected residents have been forced to put up with friends and relatives with others forced to spend the night in the open.

Janet Nyabledzi is one of those whose houses have collapsed as a result of the spillage. The mother of two lived together with her husband and children in the mud house close to the river.

According to her, the building, bequeathed to them by her parents collapsed while the entire family was not at home. Even though they escaped any harm, they lost several personal properties in the process.

Though this isn’t the first time Janet has experienced the spillage, she said the magnitude of the activity this time is enormous.

She said, “the spilling has been going on but not to this extent, it didn’t cause any havoc to us like this…we’ve been displaced, we don’t have any place to sleep, our properties have been lost and the building too collapsed.”

Now, with nowhere to lay their head, the family has resorted to sleeping on a vast rock near their home by spreading their beds on its hard surface. With fishing standing out as the mainstay of the people, the impact of the spillage has left in its trail massive destruction to fish cages resulting in the deaths of the fishes and thereby destroying the sources of livelihood of entire families.

Atsu Ernest is a fish farmer in Kokonte Kpedzi with ten cages to his credit. Having engaged in the activity for four years now, he told GhanaWeb that his only source of income has been washed away by the high currents leaving him with nothing.

With some ten thousand fishes in each cage, he said only few were still surviving with many of the fishes dead.

“The spillage has washed all the cages from up there and then all these ones, I had fishes in all these cages, some have been washed away, some died and in fact, its very pathetic…every cage has been affected, not just mine,” he said.

Asked how he hopes to pick up the pieces of his job after the spillage, Mr. Atsu said their hopes now lay in the hands of government to support them revive their jobs.

He placed a passionate appeal to government to come to their aid.

Assemblyman for the ATL Electoral Area, Timothy Adzogli said the activity has totally deprived them of fishing which is the mainstay of the people.

“Our livelihood is fishing work, that is what we depend on because we don’t have lands…so the spilling, the speed is very high and you can’t go fishing because if you go, either your life or your properties may be lost,” said Mr. Adzogli.

Commenting on the houses that are collapsing, he said, “It has affected a lot of our residents, buildings are being collapsed.”

Despite the situation, he said no material support has been received from the NADMO.

According to him, the people were in dire need of mattresses, water, food and appealed to government for urgent assistance.

He advised the people to move to higher grounds to avoid any threats to their lives.