Despite the severe damage caused by the recurring spillage of the Bagre Dam in northern the country, former General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Edward Kareweh, insists Burkina Faso should not be held accountable for the disaster.
For years, the annual spillage has wreaked havoc in the North East and Upper East regions, destroying farmlands, killing livestock, displacing residents, and claiming lives. In 2014, some 10 people died, followed by 34 in 2018 and 6 in 2020.
According to the Volta River Authority (VRA), the 2018 spillage alone affected 52,000 people, with two others reported missing.
The current ongoing spillage which began on Monday, 19th August is estimated to have affected over 700 farmers as their farms and livestock have been submerged by the floods from the spillage.
Despite the continuous havoc caused by the spillage of the Burkina-based dam, Edward Kareweh believes Burkina Faso cannot be blamed but rather the successive governments of Ghana for their years of inactivity.
Speaking to The High Street Journal, Edward Kareweh argued that Burkina Faso has no choice but to spill its dam to save the integrity of its million-dollar multipurpose dam as it has always done in Ghana to save the Akosombo Dam from collapse.
He explains that the havoc can no longer be called a disaster since it has become predictable yet Ghana has failed to act to mitigate its impact blaming the leadership of the country for what he describes as an unconcerned posture.
“The problem is not between Ghana and Burkina Faso. It’s not Burkina Faso. If you have your dam, and it’s full, you have to spill. Even in Ghana here, when the Akosombo Dam was threatened, they spilled it. So nobody should blame Burkina Faso on why they spill their dam, they have no problem in doing that. It is what we do with that spillage. It is not a disaster anymore, it is a predictable thing. When something is predictable, you cannot say it’s a disaster. You have control over it, yet you say it’s a disaster, it is not,” he argued.
He further emphasized that the food security issues we have in the country can be partly blamed on the menace of the Bagre Dam spillage which has constantly been destroying large acres of farmlands.
He noted that “this is the type of leadership we have. Leadership that does not think beyond themselves to think about the people. Because people lose their lives. Livestock are lost, and farms are submerged. We are talking about food security. These are things that create food insecurity in this country. It’s just a complete shame.”
One of the proposed ways of dealing with the spillage of the dam is the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam which among other things is planned to serve as a reservoir to collect and store the spilled water. However, the project has become a white elephant. Works on the proposed project were commenced in the 1990s by the VRA.
The project has not made any significant progress after over 3 decades due to funding issues and lack of government commitment.
The Pwalugu Dam which is estimated to cost US$993 million was mentioned as one of the manifesto promises of the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. It is now the plan of the Vice President to prioritize the construction of the dam by using private-sector financing if elected president. It is worthy of note that sod was cut in 2019 for the project which is expected to take 50 months to be completed to commence.
