Akosombo Dam Spillage: Basic schools in Anlo Agobledokui were rendered inaccessible due to flooding | The Big Stories
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NewsTranscript
00:00 For weeks, school children in Agobledokwe have been home after flooding cut their school off
00:06 from the rest of their community. The spillage of the Volta Dam and torrential rains have combined
00:12 to threaten their dreams. The livelihoods of that of their families have also been put on hold as
00:18 they wait for the flood waters to recede. It's been a month since many of these houses in this
00:24 community flooded. Residents have to adjust to live with it as their rooms are drenched
00:30 and filled with flood waters.
00:32 It's been about
00:35 96 days. It's a seasonal thing but it comes every season.
00:42 From June, it comes. When it comes like this, our schools are closed.
00:50 People don't have a chance to go to school because it crosses the school road side so that people
00:55 cannot move to the school. So we close the school down and our jobs have been lost like farm
01:02 activities. We can't go to farm again so we just stay here and be suffering from food and those
01:09 aspects. Some houses get inside their rooms so they have to take blocks
01:17 and make beds and sleep on it. Those are the problems we are facing. We just have to manage
01:26 when it goes and start our jobs and activities. When it comes, it takes about three months
01:34 or four months. For about three or four months you'll be living with water? Yes.
01:43 We have become miserable. We can't even sleep over fears our houses may collapse.
01:49 We just stay up all night.
01:51 For many of these residents, this annual occurrence frustrates them. For many, they've been seeing
02:03 this ever since they were born. The time that I was born in this town, every year the water would come
02:12 but it would affect us. It would affect our rooms and our chickens. If they come like this, we can't even cook.
02:20 If you want to cook, you have to buy charcoal before. But if you have a cylinder, you can cook.
02:28 It's been one month since our houses were taken over by the floods. We need help. We are suffering
02:41 and we are looking up to God.
02:43 Their call for help seemed to have all fallen on deaf ears. No NADMO in sight to offer relief items.
02:56 No efforts by the government, they say, to end the perennial flooding once and for all. MP for the
03:03 area, Richard Kwame Sefer, who donated some items on behalf of the former president John Jamali
03:09 Muhammad to the community, urged government to come to their aid. The VRA spillage, the control
03:15 spillage which is being done now, the floodwaters, as well as the other essences that are coming into play.
03:25 For now, we are at a loss as to where to call on because try as we could. We couldn't
03:36 achieve anything. If you come to the coast, you are talking of the tidal wave. You go, you come
03:43 around the hinterlands. This is what we are witnessing. So we are only pleading to the government
03:49 and its agencies that it's time that they come to help us. If they don't, what is going to happen
03:58 is that these people are going to remain like this and God knows when. Already, a number of MPs in
04:04 these coastal areas of the Volta region are threatening to vote against government's budget
04:09 if it does not make adequate provision to end this phenomenon. Mr. Sefer says if this is what it
04:15 would take to get government to act, he will join this protest. We as parliamentarians from the
04:21 coastal area here, we have been doing our bit by raising questions appealing to government over
04:28 the few years we were in parliament. Now that the media have come to witness some of this,
04:34 you can see the devastation on the face of the people. Look at them. People could not even go
04:43 to their rooms to sleep, neither could they do anything meaningful. They are representative
04:48 of people of Angola and this is what they are suffering. If there is any means that I, their
04:54 representative, could do for the authorities to hear their cries, if that is the only mean we
05:04 should go, I will go by that. I for one, if there is a way that we are going to vote,
05:10 if there is a way we are going to vote, even if it's going to be one out of the 275, I will do
05:17 that under protest. So that one, you count on me that I will have a way of trying to put some of
05:25 these things across. For now, and as residents wait for some action by those paid and those in
05:30 office to fix these issues and make their lives better, they have to wait with patience for the
05:36 next two or three months so that they can get their lives back to normalcy. After these flood
05:42 waters recede, they can send their children back to school. But the rest of the world isn't waiting.
05:48 For joy news, Kikwa Sante, Agoble Dokui, Angolaga District, Volta Region.
05:54 Thank you for staying with us. We hit the course or the road running in terms of our big stories
06:02 now. Now, we focus on the extent of damage caused by the opening of the Akosumbwa Dam or the
06:08 spillage of the dam. Some communities around the Volta River have been flooded. And we're hearing
06:13 from residents and opinion leaders on how this is affecting them. You already saw in your shot
06:19 right there, some of the residents being engaged with and what they have to share. Really pathetic
06:25 situation. But joining the conversation now, we have Maxwell Lukuto. He is the constituency
06:35 representative, so to speak, of the NDC, Parliamentary Candidate Elect. I was just
06:41 trying to find the right way of addressing him. And he joins the conversation. Maxwell,
06:47 I don't know whether to say good morning because it's quite a situation there. But good morning to
06:52 you all the same. Yeah, good morning. I hope you are doing good. I am doing well under the
06:59 circumstances. I've not had electricity for three days, so it is what it is. But from what we've
07:06 seen so far in those pictures, they paint a very, very disturbing picture. These people are brothers
07:14 and sisters. They have been through the situation for quite a while. And we all know what impact
07:19 this even has on the structural integrity of buildings. But tell me, how long have you known
07:26 that this has gone on? And this falls within your constituency, right?
07:30 Agobla Doki, as you have shown, does not fall within my constituency. That's within the
07:37 Angola constituency. But we're interested to know that we share boundaries with the Angola constituency,
07:43 the Akathe South, Central Tongue, and even North Tongue. So those are the number of constituencies
07:50 we share. And we are along the Volta River, same as North Tongue, Central Tongue, and also the
07:56 Angola constituency. And so the situation is similar all around our places. It's unfortunate
08:03 that we are experiencing this not out of a natural rain within our area, but as the effect of rains
08:12 at the northern portions of Ghana and also the northern portions of
08:17 countries sharing boundaries with us to the north, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and others.
08:24 And so it's out of the effect of the spillage from the Akosombo Dam. Naturally, when it rains,
08:30 some areas also get flooded, but those ones will be due to war planning and settlement issues.
08:37 But what is happening currently is out of the spillage that we are experiencing from the
08:42 Akosombo Dam, you know, the level of the water should be about 278 feet. But what they are
08:47 experiencing is that when they get closer to that, then it becomes an issue and they may have to spill
08:52 to make sure that the integrity of the dam is kept intact. And what we know is that the levels
08:58 are close, maybe about 278, that they are expecting. And so when those happen,
09:05 then they will have to spill excess water, which would have to flow into the sea. And you know,
09:09 the sea has an amount of water it can contain at any time. So when it can't go in directly,
09:16 like that, then it begins to spread. And unfortunately, those are the low lying areas
09:21 along the Volta River begin to experience some of these things. And you know, there are creeks
09:27 that are linked into the Volta Lake. So when it happens like that, the creeks also begin to
09:32 overflow to the inland areas. And so those are the things we are experiencing now.
09:38 The last week when we spoke, I told you that the spillage affected a lot of people
09:41 who have aquaculture businesses within the Volta River itself. You know, aquaculture,
09:48 you put cages within the water, you feed the fishes with nets around them every day.
09:54 When they grow, then you harvest and go and also sell. And so most of the people have their cages
10:01 within the water and it really affected them. Because one, the level of the water rose,
10:07 and then the speed with which it was coming was unusual. You realize that the anchors that were
10:13 used to hold the nets in place began to tear apart. And once they were tearing apart, the metal frames
10:20 that were used even for the cage itself, because of the speed of the water began to get in and so
10:26 they were getting broken. And so most people lost their cages. They had to be chasing some of the
10:33 cages underwater to be able to go get hold of them. Some they couldn't, and they had to go
10:39 smash themselves into other material. So...
10:42 Hello, Maxwell. Can you hear me?
10:47 A lot of people with cages. So beyond those ones, people who have their residences within the inland
10:56 areas as I described earlier, also have the level of water rising, and so it's entering into their
11:01 homes. And so like you saw in Agobla Duk, you have similar situations in Bedbu, in Agutor, Sonume,
11:08 Sonupu, all those areas are experiencing some of these things. And so it's a terrible situation
11:16 for us. Water entering into people's homes. And you know that most of these buildings are not even
11:21 made of concrete or blocks. They are made of mud. And so when it happens like that,
11:27 there becomes an issue. Water staying under mud building for two, three days, then it becomes
11:35 an issue and the buildings begin to give way. And so that is what we are experiencing now.
11:42 People don't have kitchens to cook in. And even charcoal to cook with is a problem. So
11:48 it's a terrible situation. Unfortunately, not more as we know these days.
11:55 [inaudible]
12:01 Resource enough to go to the [inaudible]
12:03 go to some few places, have crews with boats on the Votar Lake itself,
12:06 not go have to shake yourself and come back and solve most of this situation.
12:12 So to bring the picture to you, it is not the best of situation our people can find themselves in
12:19 presently. And I know that some of these things, it's out of the depletion of the ozone layout of
12:25 global warming that we are experiencing generally. That means rainfalls are usually high
12:31 and it affects the dam and the spillage is what is affecting us downstream here.
12:35 My people in Sukwe are suffering. All along the Votar Lake to Agbewe and also into the sea.
12:45 The level of the water has risen so high that it begins to enter the communities and it's not
12:50 the best of situations which we are experiencing.
12:53 The last time I went into that area, I mean, you would realize that as far as sea level is
13:00 concerned, many of such places are not too high above sea level, which leaves them prone to some
13:07 such disasters. But this has been happening. I heard one of the residents talking about the
13:10 fact that this had been happening since the 1990s, specifically 1996 thereabouts. I mean,
13:17 it's been about 27 years. We've had the Kitta Sea Defense Project, among others.
13:23 How do we get a grip on this situation? It is clear that on the back of global warming and
13:29 everything that is happening, the sea levels will continue to rise. What then is the way forward
13:35 on this beat? Because we can't keep doing this every year.
13:40 Yeah, for the sea, what can be done is the sea defense that comes out once in a while. But
13:50 sincerely, constructing a defense against the sea is a very, very daunting task. On few occasions,
13:58 or once in a while, those things happen. But there are not things we can do along the whole
14:02 of the sea width to prevent the rising level of the sea from entering our homes.
14:09 But as much as we can do, we would have to do these things, reconstruct and make sure that
14:16 we safeguard some of the situation. I believe that if the sea port that is to be constructed
14:22 at Kitta is also done, it will create some guard for the level of the water to come into inland
14:30 and prevent the size from rising so high. So if the Kitta sea defense is done and the harbor is
14:36 also done, I'm sure it will create a more serene atmosphere and reduce the effect of the rising
14:43 sea level on the people. But that has been in the offering for a long time, the sea defense thing.
14:51 At least there must be some crucial points that we can deal with to forestall these happenings.
14:57 We may not be able to do it across the length and breadth of that space, but at least there
15:02 must be crucial areas that are affected every year that we can target, right?
15:06 The technical challenge there is that once you do one end, then the water moves to the other side
15:13 and goes to affect them. So to get it completely solved, you need to do along the whole of the
15:18 beach. I hear Togo also has done a complete sea defense. I'm not too sure, but I read some
15:25 literature that tells me that they have done so much there, for which reason it's shifted to the
15:31 Ghana side of the sea. And it means that when we also do aquascaping, we may have to shift to some
15:35 other side. And so that is a technical challenge, even with doing the sea defense at crucial areas
15:41 and leaving some areas out. But notwithstanding, I'm sure that our technical people would have to
15:46 examine this. I'm sure it is the challenge with finances, which is another issue affecting us,
15:56 unable to do these things. If we have money, I'm sure government would have pushed for these
16:01 things to be done. And so I see that also to be a challenge. And I don't know how soon we'll
16:06 become so liquidated to the extent that we would want to construct sea defense walls
16:11 along the whole of the sea. As far as you are concerned, I know that from time to time when
16:18 some such happenings arise, it is you, the members of parliament, even before help comes,
16:23 you, the members of parliament, among others, are called upon. What has been your reaction,
16:28 though you say it is technically not within your constituency, within the surrounding communities
16:34 that border your constituency? What has been your reaction? Have you had to reach out to some people?
16:41 No, I didn't say that it wasn't a it isn't within my constituency. I said that particular
16:45 issue is not within my constituency. Okay, then I want you not to say that my country has been
16:50 affected. I went ahead to mention communities within our constituency that are about to be
16:55 affected. Maxwell, then you lost me at a point because I started by situating the conversation
17:00 and saying your constituency was affected. And then you went on to say no. And it is so you were
17:05 referring to the initial place that we showed. I get that. What has been your reaction to your
17:11 constituents in terms of any assistance or help? Even before now, knowing that some areas get
17:18 affected during the heavy rains, I went around some communities to see what is likely to happen
17:24 when these rains come, or if the spillage happens. And I had to technically advise some of them.
17:30 You know, I am an expert in development planning. I am a licensed surveyor. And some of these things
17:37 fall within our domain. Technically, I looked at some areas that I felt that we'll have to do some
17:42 technical engineering. And my advice was that we may have to look for a dredger or we'll have to
17:49 look for an excavator to dig deep some trenches to allow flow of water. There were some buildings
17:56 springing up at areas that I technically saw to be within water. We advised a few people that we
18:03 need to get those things off. The assembly is well aware of some of these places and may have to
18:09 take action by demolishing some of these places and creating drains for the water to flow through
18:18 when it rains. Those are the things we can do technically on the ground. Like you alluded to,
18:25 I'm not already the MP. So resources that come for the people of the constituency does not come
18:32 through me. I'm sure my MP is on top of issues. I understand he visited some few communities and
18:38 donated some few items like we saw Honorable Sepe also doing. I will do my bit, but that will not be
18:45 on the large scale as you are expecting to hear or see. I will do my bit in the smallest form that
18:51 I can and also give technical advice to people whose places are falling low, so much below sea
18:58 level to advise them to move to higher ground for now and to the water receipts. In the meantime,
19:03 people should be careful how they build. You go and you speak to them building at places like that,
19:10 they will tell you this thing happened as far as 68. The major one happened in 63, another one in
19:15 68. That's about 55, 60 years ago. And so the expectation is not that these days the level of
19:23 water would rise so much to affect their building. But that is a situation we find ourselves in here.
19:28 And so residents who are... So basically, it means a certain knowledge of the situation is also lost.
19:36 More education is needed because if they are fully aware of global warming and the challenges of
19:41 climate change, they wouldn't be saying some of these things. Yes, yes, exactly. So it behoves
19:47 on us to continually educate them and tell them that even though the last time it happened was 68,
19:52 any day, any time, because of global warming, these things can reoccur again. And you see sometimes
19:57 it's out of poverty also matters in this thing, because if that is the only lab you can get to
20:04 the particular person or their family, you would have to move from there, go look for money,
20:08 buy land somewhere else to be able to build. So they feel that this is my grandfather's land,
20:13 I don't have money to go buy for any other place. This is the only place I know, this is the only
20:17 place I can build. So those are some of the problems that come along with some of these
20:22 issues as well. Some may know, but because they can't help it, they can't do anything about it,
20:26 they are forced to stay there. But the effect that these things bring is very dire. And so
20:32 like we continue to experience in some places of Accra, people know that places flood during the
20:36 rains, but they are forced to go pay rent and stay in there. When the rains come, their rooms
20:41 are flooded, they are affected, and they move out the next time they come in there. So that is the
20:46 kind of situation we are facing. Basically, I'm sure because of poverty. So people know and they
20:52 cannot move because of poverty. People don't know they go to do it, because people go to buy some
20:58 of those places during the dry season, and it's only when it rains that they will know that this
21:02 place is susceptible to flooding and all those other issues. So it's a myriad of challenges
21:07 that we need to continually educate people to understand this, and those that can help
21:16 themselves would have to do. - Even talking about poverty and the grinding poverty and how it
21:25 impacts people's decisions, you can also look at the fact that a lot of these, like you rightly
21:30 mentioned, some of the buildings are actually made of thatch and mud, and these cannot withstand
21:36 any of such shocks, which also basically imperils or endangers them whenever these tides hit or
21:46 whenever there's a spillage. So what do you think can be done? I mean, since you are a surveyor and
21:52 all of that, what do you think can be done? Sensitization, education on the fact that maybe
21:57 they should reconstruct or move to other places, because this is like a ticking time bomb.
22:02 - Yeah. In the meantime, the only thing we can do immediately is to talk about places that are
22:15 more convenient for them to move to and be housed for some few days until the water recedes.
22:19 Beyond that, assembly has to be up and doing and making sure that those who don't have to
22:25 build at places that are susceptible to flooding do not do it. You see the assemblies who always
22:33 complain about lack of resources to be able to undertake these processes, but when it happens,
22:37 it is the same assembly we come to crying and looking for help. And so when the assembly begins
22:42 to do their work so well, it takes away most of these issues. The last time I went to a community,
22:47 an island community, and I realized that there's a developer who is building so close to the water
22:52 body. And I had to explain to them that when those things happen, as soon as the spillage of this
22:57 data and the level of the water rises, it goes directly into your home. And so a lot of education
23:02 is in there, a lot of making sure that people do what they have to do and don't do what they don't
23:09 have to do. I mean, checking and making sure that people do according to the rules of engagement is
23:14 also necessary. The assemblies, the DCs, the technical department, the works and housing
23:20 department of the assembly should make sure that they are up to that to ensure that people don't
23:24 build where they don't have to build. There's so much lax in the system. And unfortunately,
23:29 there are a few instances that you hear that the assembly, the people who have to make sure that
23:34 they monitor this thing are themselves compromised by these developers to do things to the disadvantage
23:40 of others. So it's... Right. Maxwell, we're struggling with the connection to you. It's a
23:52 bit patchy, I think, based on where you are. But thank you so much, Maxwell Lukato, for joining us
23:57 on this conversation. Of course, that conversation, the broader conversation continues, whether it is
24:03 the tide, the sea itself encroaching on territory or any spillages that happen from time to time.
24:11 This is a disastrous situation and it's affecting our brothers and sisters in that part
24:16 of the country. The solutions? Well, the verdict is out there and we're waiting to see what help
24:22 will be brought to bear. Maxwell Lukato is the member of parliament, the candidate-elect for
24:30 South Tong in the NDC. He joined us for a conversation.