Kofi Bentil, Vice President of IMANI Africa, has critically assessed the impact of the Akosombo Dam spillage, categorizing it as a major failure on the part of the Volta River Authority.
Participating in a panel discussion on the Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa (ALIWA) on Thursday, January 25, Mr Bentil emphasized the need for a thorough examination of the spillage incident to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
According to Bentil, the Akosombo Dam Spillage cannot be dismissed lightly, considering the evident catastrophic failure that led to flooding and the displacement of thousands of residents. He underscored that such a failure does not happen overnight but unfolds over several days.
He pointed out that both the Meteorological Service and the Volta River Authority (VRA) had warning systems in place, raising questions about why the incident occurred despite these precautions.
“The dam does not fail overnight, it fails over many days, the Meteo service was working, and they gave the warnings, VRA itself has better systems than the Meteo systems, by which it can check. So if a dam fails over many days and there are significant warning systems, and there are multiple institutions, and it’s a Volta River Authority and in law, that [Authority] means a lot.”
He suggested that a comprehensive investigation is essential to understand the lapses in the system.
“We need to ask questions as to why this happened and get to the bottom of why it happened because if the best of our best has failed then what is going on with the rest?”
Parliamentary enquiry
Highlighting the urgency of the situation, Mr Bentil urged Parliament to conduct a thorough probe into the spillage.
He emphasized that the flooding was not a natural disaster but a result of deliberate actions, where someone initiated the release of water, despite the awareness of people downstream, hence calling for an enquiry to unravel what happened.
“This flooding was not natural, somebody pressed the bottom, and opened floodgates, knowing there were people downstream and flooded the place. Yes, you are saying [it was done] to save the dam but how did we get to that point, if the dam broke there would be worse problems, but should we ever get to that point where we have to choose between saving a dam and risking human lives? We need to ask questions and I think Parliament should get into this.”
The discussion was on the theme “Building Resilience: A Socio-Economic Response to Natural Disasters.”
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A senior Sanitation Specialist with the World Bank, Ing. Harold Esseku, says the Volta River Authority (VRA) must ensure that the mega disaster caused by the spillage of the Akosombo Dam does not occur again.
Speaking at a panel discussion on “Building Resilience: A Socio-Economic Response to Natural Disasters” during the Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa (ALIWA), Ing. Esseku underscored the need for efficient measures to prevent such a catastrophic spillage in the future.
While acknowledging that systems put in place at VRA might not have functioned as efficiently as needed, he asserted that the accountability ultimately rests with the VRA, and blaming others is not justifiable.
“The buck stops with VRA, no one else; they had systems, maybe the systems did not work as efficiently as needed, but the buck stops with VRA, no one else, and they cannot blame anyone above.
“In the event of a disaster, we always talk about health; what brings about health issues, water and sanitation. Whenever there is a disaster, people must have water at once, and we eat even in a disaster, and we defecate, especially in a flood. If you don’t have measures in place, the challenges we are seeing, literally water went into toilets and pulled it out, and it went everywhere. That was a mega-disaster; we must not allow something like that to happen again.”
In addition to accountability, Ing. Esseku called on both the government and private organizations to prioritize the restoration of livelihoods for those impacted by the disaster.
He urged a concerted effort to support all affected individuals in rebuilding their lives and emphasized the collective responsibility to ensure their well-being and recovery.
“We have to ensure that all those whose livelihoods have been impacted, we have to find a way to help them restore them. All affected persons must be supported.”
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