A former Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and Chairman of the Committee probing the Akosombo Dam spillage disaster, Ing. Isaac Kirk Koffi, has identified three key factors that contributed to the widespread devastation in September 2023.
In that month, the VRA conducted a controlled spillage of the Akosombo and Kpong Dams as a preventive measure to safeguard the structural integrity of the dams. The move, however, quickly turned catastrophic, submerging thousands of homes and displacing entire communities downstream.
In response to the disaster, the newly elected Mahama-led administration committed to investigating the causes of the flooding. On March 14, 2025, the Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, inaugurated a five-member committee led by Ing. Koffi to examine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, Ing. Koffi outlined human settlement patterns, technical decisions, and poor stakeholder coordination as the main drivers of the crisis.
“Human Nature: People are living in some of the flood zones, both upstream and downstream. Going forward, we think those areas should be protected. There should be an LI where areas within the downstream are protected,” he said.
“Because, as it has happened, we can see it happening in the future. When nobody stays there, anytime there is a spillage, human activities in those areas are not affected.”
He also emphasized that while the dam itself remained structurally sound, aspects of the technical response were inadequate.
“The Dam Itself: The decision to spill was taken, but it wasn’t safeguarded. Elsewhere, dams have collapsed; certain things did not work well. It was either their gates could not open, but in this case, they were able to open the gates, and they spilled the water that needed to go out.”
“Nevertheless, the amount of water they spilled is something we can also talk about later. Also, the spillage was a result of inflow, which was more than what was expected,” he added.
On inter-agency coordination, Ing. Koffi noted gaps that, in his view, worsened the impact of the spillage.
“The cooperation between the stakeholders, we think there were some deficiencies over there, and that must be worked on, like the Emergency Preparedness Plan,” he explained.
The Committee is expected to submit its findings and recommendations to help prevent a recurrence of such disasters in the future.
