Ministerial Team Briefed On Lake Disaster

One of the canoes involved in the disaster

A team of officials from the Ministry of Transport and the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), led by the Deputy Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, has been briefed on events leading to last week’s boat disaster on the Volta Lake at Wusuta-Kpebe in the Kpando District of the Volta Region.

Recounting events before the disaster to the team, a 16-year-old pupil of the Torganu D/A Primary School, Master Aikins Kwarteng, said after the funeral of their colleague at Wusuta-Kpebe, a boat was contracted to send the schoolchildren home.

Disparities in the fare charged became a problem so they had to settle for a boat operator whose fare was reasonable. and

according to Master Kwarteng, the operator in question used a rope to tie his canoe, which had an outboard motor, to another canoe which did not have one.

He said before they set off, the headmaster of the school impressed upon the boat operator not to move because a storm was imminent, but the operator paid no heed to the advice.

He said a few minutes into the journey, one of their leaders again insisted on going back to Wusuta-Kpebe because clouds were gathering, but, again, the plea fell on deaf ears.

He said not long after they had set off, there was a storm and the boat got filled with water, turned over and sunk.

Master Kwarteng said he, together with a few others, swam to safety, while their shouts for help attracted attention.

At a meeting between the delegation and the Wusuta Traditional Council, the Chief of Wusuta-Kpebe, Torgbui Gborsu IV, said the pupils and their leaders had been advised against leaving but they had persisted, with the argument that they had to be at school the following day.

The group, he added, without anybody’s knowledge, went for a smaller boat meant for fishing, against the advice that they should leave the next day.

Mrs Attivor expressed President Mills’s condolences and said accidents such as happened were avoidable if people took precautionary measures.

She advised the people to adhere strictly to safety measures meant to prevent disasters on the lake and expressed regret that

evidence from the latest accident showed that the boat operator had not followed best practices as far as lake transport was concerned.

She implored the people to co-operate with the GMA to ensure safety on the lake.

The Director of the GMA, Mr I.P. Azuma, advised boat operators to take the training courses being organised by the GMA seriously, since in the future operating a boat on the lake would be dependent on having a certificate from the GMA.

He indicated that requests had been made to the government to procure patrol boats for the Navy to use on the lake, since presently the Navy was stationed at places prone to accidents.

The Navy, he noted, must show physical presence on the lake to scare anybody trying to engage in malpractice such as joining two boats together using one outboard engine.

Mr Azuma announced that landing stages would be built at various stations to check the manifest of all boats during and after departure to solve the problem of overloading and ensure that commuters got rest places after their journey or during stopovers.

The team donated GH¢1,500 to help cater for the survivors of the accident and facilitate the search for the missing persons.

Briefing the press later, Mrs Attivor said $200 million had been earmarked for various projects aimed at making the lake safe.

She slisted them to include two extra pontoons, the removal of stumps from the lake by Clark Sustainable Resources (CSR), starting from September 2010, and the provision of life jackets for communities along the Volta Lake on credit basis.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that 24 people were rescued in the accident, while 12 people have been confirmed dead, with five declared missing.

The 12 bodies have been deposited at the morgues at the Donkorkrom Catholic Hospital at Afram Plains and the St Margaret Maquart Hospital in Kpando. Share Your Thoughts on this article Name Email Location Comments Graphic Ghana may edit your comments and not all comments will be published