A rescue mission made up of residents saved a mother and her three children trapped in their homes following the spillage of the Dahwenya irrigation dam.
Hundreds of residents of Dawhenya near Prampram in the Greater Accra Region have been displaced following the flooding of their homes caused by the spillage of an irrigation dam in the area.
Some affected residents who spoke to Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News on Citi FM said the water is at the window level of their houses.
Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, has blamed the impact of the Dahwenya Dam spillage on what he describes as negligence by the management of the dam.
The spillage has displaced approximately 600 persons and claimed several livelihoods in the Dahwenya community.
Addressing the media during an assessment tour, the Ningo-Prampram legislator called for an immediate investigation into the matter.
“We need to call a spade a spade. There are natural causes, but it’s been exacerbated by the decisions and inactions of people, the indiscipline in our community, and we have people paying the price for it. Over 600 people were displaced, and properties running into millions were destroyed. People have worked all their lives in Accra, bought lands here and built with their retirement, and it’s all gone. Because someone is sleeping on his job. We need to have a proper investigation into this. How can a scheme manager sell state land to a foreigner? This is unacceptable in our country.”
He bemoaned the indiscipline by the residents in the area.
“It’s obvious that there has been an increase in rainfall from upstream, which is basically mounting waves, and that water has found its way into the dam. The dam has an automatic spillway that allows water to be spilled at a certain level. Once the water gets to a certain level, it spills itself. You were there when we did the rescue of a woman and her children who have been stuck there for 24 hours.
That house is sitting right in the middle of the stream. Who do we hold responsible for that? Buildings in the middle of the stream. In the stream, we saw land for sale. If we are so indisciplined as a people to bring some of these things. Look at where we are standing right now, and an individual chooses to build a hotel in the runway for water. He has blocked it, and that is what has created the dam here. What has the assembly been doing?”
