The Parliament of Ghana must take keen interest in conducting an inquiry into the Volta River Authority (VRA) spillage man-made disaster to establish the fact behind management’s inability to forecast the terrible consequences of their actions which have plunged 2,600 people homeless and further compensate all affected people.
Technically, the management of VRA should have considered conducting a proper risk assessment as part of organizational standard operation procedure to ascertain the magnitude of this year’s spillage and its level of danger, to further educate and assist communities and people who may be affected, by ensuring that adequate plans and precautionary measures are put in place before opening the water channels.
The authority should be blamed for its deliberate negligence which has cause people so much, it is important to state on record that, management should have been able to enlighten the affected people and communities about the critical danger this year’s spillage may pose to them if risk assessment was conducted, sadly this unfortunately man-made spillage disaster had led to the destructions of enormous properties like; individual houses, hospitals, schools, animal and crop farms, displaced thousands of people, transport links like bridges disconnected, economic activities disrupted with so many businesses collapsed and livelihood uprooted.
The country must as a matter of urgency prioritize ensuring adequate humanitarian support to all affected people in all affected communities. State institutions such as the Public Health Directorate, National Disaster Management, Environmental Protection Agency, etc must deploy their staff in numbers to support and educate people to prevent possible outbreaks of cholera and other diseases since many places like mortuaries with over 300 dead bodies have been flooded, cemetery, and public toilets flooded, polluting the environment which has the high tendency to affect the health of people, if the right measures are not put in place.
Sign
Anthony Acquaye ( MA in Security, KAIPTC)
Security Policy Expert at the Centre for Security Dialogue and Peace Advocacy
0556783703
