Akosombo Dam spillage: I was taken out of context – Freda Prempeh

Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Freda Prempeh has said she was taken out of context regarding the comment she made to the effect that people in the areas affected by the flood refused to be evacuated.

She was heavily criticized for her comments. For instance, North Tongu Member of Parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa described her comment as a blatant lie and an insult to the people.

Mr. Ablakwa dared her to point to areas that were earmarked for the people to be evacuated to, but they refused to go.

“These Akufo Addo ministers should stop adding insults to injuries; we are pained, depressed, and devastated. They should stop these things. We have had enough of their blatant lies; she should tell us when and the date. When did they come here? She herself—has she come here before? The people should move to where?

“She should show us where it was constructed for my people to move to; they refused to go. Was it the military, NADMO, or who?” He said this on the Ghana Tonight show on TV3 on Monday.

He further said the Members of Parliament in the affected areas are going to file a motion in parliament for a full investigation into the disaster.

“We are filing a motion for a full-scale probe; it will be live on television, and we will know exactly what happened. All these blatant lies will be exposed. The officials who caused this will face the law, and we will demand full compensation.”

The Sanitation Minister, while making the comments, said, “We don’t want what has happened in Akosombo to happen to us in Accra. The Akosombo spillage, even though VRA, NADMO, and the Water Resouces Commission came together to educate the people in the community, did a simulation exercise at Mepe, yet they refused to leave; they didn’t want to be evacuated; they stayed there till the end when we started spilling.”

“Unfortunately, look at what is happening: the government has to spend millions of dollars on relief items, the whole area of the water is contaminated, and the Ghana Water Company and Water Resources Commission will have to spend millions of dollars to treat the water before we can thrust it into our pipes. So a stitch in time saves nine, “she said during the accounting to our customer/media press bringing in Accra on Monday, October 23.

In a message she sent to the Institute of Public Relations WhatsApp platform, she indicated that “I was taken out of context.”

She added, “The government is committed to supporting communities affected by the spillage. The Volta River Authority is providing the following support, among others: The VRA has committed GHS20 million towards alleviating the adverse impact on the affected communities. The VRA has deployed water tankers to make water available to the affected people.

“The VRA has provided medical items and personnel to screen and administer medical treatment to emerging health issues. VRA has provided buses, trucks, and pick-up vehicles to assist in the internal transportation of both goods and affected people. VRA has restored the damaged community water supply pumps in Aveyime. VRA has installed a portable water treatment system at St. Kizito School, a safe haven in Mepe. With the support of the Ministry of Energy, VRA has distributed 5000 solar lamps to various safe havens.

“Together with ECG, the power supply has been reconnected to the St. Kizito safe haven in Mepe. Zoom Lion has been contracted to provide mobile toilets, service them, and also provide sanitation services at the safe havens.  An access road has been created in Mepe to the St. Kizito center to avoid access by boat. Removal of weeds from the Sogakope bridge to facilitate the flow of the river into the ocean”