Akosombo dam spillage a mega disaster; it must not happen again – Harold Esseku

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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