Farmers affected by Bui dam construction not happy with compensation

There was spontaneous disappointment among some farmers affected by the on-going construction of the Bui dam in the Tain District of the Brong-Ahafo region over the payment of compensation claims due them.

The hopes of the majority of the 580 affected farmers, who anticipated huge sums of money from the government, as crop compensation, turned sorrow when the Lands Valuation Division (LVD) of the Lands Commission presented them with their cheques on Wednesday.


Their economic trees and crops were cleared to pave way for the construction of the dam, which will add 400 megawatt of power to Ghana’s electricity supply.


The government allocated a colossal amount of GH¢1,225,630 to be shared amongst the farmers, with the highest beneficiary receiving GH¢73,000 and GH¢25 to the lowest.


Majority of the farmers were in a state of disbelief, after receiving their cheques from Mr. Joachim Desewu, Head of Finance of the LVD, when they compared the amount with their crops lost to the dam.


Some of the farmers told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) they were into the cultivation of cocoyam, cassava, maize, yams and groundnuts, as well as economic crops such as cashew, coconuts and millets in commercial quantities.


They said the monies paid them were inadequate and could not sustain them; neither could they invest in any commercial venture.

Some of the farmers alleged that payments on the compensation were not based on the initial crop rate they agreed on with the LVD when the division undertook the inventory of their farms in 2010.


They explained that, during the inventory, the LVD took exact numbers of their economic trees and crops while the affected farmers and their witnesses were allowed to sign a form.


The farmers expressed disappointment that during the inventory stage no specific amount of money was indicated on the evaluation forms or specific rate per a particular crop, creating a situation where none of the farmers could tell the amount they would receive.


Nana Yaw Ofori, a 73 year-old farmer, who received GH¢925 said the farmers initially objected to signing the forms during the inventory but they were however convinced by LVD officers, who undertook the inventory to do so as their crops would correspond with their benefits.


He said he lost three acres each of cassava, maize and beans farms to the project.


“I was expecting to get about GH¢3,000 as compensation”, he stated.

Adwoa Rebecca, a millet, yam and cassava farmer told the GNA that the economic situation in the communities was very high as the affected farmers do not have any reliable means of livelihood.


Some of us are into petty trading such as selling of local wine (pito), cigarettes and other non-alcoholic beverages, Alhassan Watra, an affected farmer said.


Meanwhile the LVD had said that land compensation for farms destroyed during the construction of the power transmission lines to the dam site in 2011 were yet to be paid.


Mr Desewu told newsmen that the division needed more time to undertake the inventory before payments could be effected.


“Land compensation on the Akosombo dam which was constructed in 1965 was paid in 2009”, he cited, adding that, the acres of land lost to the Bui dam projects was very big and that the affected farmers could not be paid now.**