Yes, Hon
Majority Leader?
Statements
23
Majority Leader (Mr Osei Kyei-
Mensah-Bonsu): Mr Speaker, let me also
express my appreciation to the Hon
Member who made this Statement and drew
our attention to the danger caused by the
spillage of the waters in the Weija dam.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Member who is also
an Hon Deputy Minister, attributed the
danger that was caused by the spillage to
about three or four factors. She mentions the
heavy siltation of the main water course of
the Densu River. Beyond the dam, it is
heavily silted, the siltation continues to the
extreme. Where siltation occurs at the
estuary of any river that enters the sea, if it
is natural, what it means is that the river
would be silting up to cause the formation
of a delta — that is what it is. If it is natural, then we would see the formation of a delta
at the estuary. Except, in this case, we all
know that the siltation is not due to natural
forces of the sand carried from the
headwaters of the river down through the
main water course and channel into the sea,
where, because of the force of entering the
sea, and the sea also repelling the water, the
waters are forced to still and during the
stillness of the water, deposition takes place
— then we have natural siltation at the estuary which ultimately would develop
into a delta.
Mr Speaker, what is happening is man-
made. The cause of the siltation, really, is
attributable to other factors including, as the
Hon Member has owned up to, building
very close to the waterway. Then we have
all manner of household excrement entering
the water body and then contributing to the
siltation of the waterway.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Deputy Minority
Whip related to the land use and spatial
planning programmes that we have and
even the Land Use and Spatial Planning
Act, 2016 (Act 925). During the times we
were growing up, for large rivers, one could
not — even farmers were required to leave a minimum of 100 yards — about 300 feet from either side of the main rivers — the Offin and the Pra. For the streams, it was
100 feet, but now, there is scant regard for
this law, and it is all because we have
persons who now have — they claim ownership of these lands, the contiguous
lands to the river channels and begins to sell
them.
Mr Speaker, I have always insisted that if
the sale of lands is left unchecked in the
hands of individuals as we are doing now,
we would cause serious problems for
ourselves including even attracting
investments.
Mr Speaker, I believe the time has come
for us to confront reality. The Hon Member
was talking about — maybe if we resorted to gradual spillage of the dam. This year, the
rainfall pattern changed and the year has
seen tremendous downpours of rain. Added
to the fact that the water itself is silting up,
indeed, the Weija Dam itself is silting up,
and we are not desilting. This is why it had
to happen the way it happened for the five
gates to be opened for the spillage to occur.
Mr Speaker, the people downstream at
the time of the construction of the dam
knew that in the event — perish that thought— that the dam collapsed, all of them would be swept off. So, those lands
behind the dam leading up to the sea were
marked out about half a kilometre across
that nobody should build, but we are
building there. Sadly, we do not want to
face the consequence if these things should
happen. Is the Government blameable? It is
not Government; it is the individuals and
the people who are selling those lands.
When one goes to buy those lands knowing
Statements
23
that they may be subject to such a
consequence, yet they build there in the
hope that flooding would never occur in
their lifetime.
Mr Speaker, sometimes, we allow these
things to happen to us because we call for it.
We are not supposed to build close to a
major river such as the Densu. We are to
keep a distance of about 200 metres or 100
metres but we go as close as maybe 50 feet
and we want to build, maybe, an
embankment to protect us. What would an
embankment of 100 feet do for one? What
of those upstream who have not done the
same thing? It would climb and enter the
place. So, we should be very serious about
the land use and spatial planning schemes
that we have.
Mr Speaker, we should also begin to
desilt the dam itself. Otherwise, at the least
downpour, we have to open the gates to
allow for these spillages.
Mr Speaker, as for the suggestion that — let us say, every year we open the dam once
or twice before the unthinkable happens — we cannot predict. This is because the
weather system is such that one cannot
predict what could happen next year. You
might spill massively and there would be
drought the following year. What happens
in such a situation? I remember about 10
years or so ago, the Akosombo Dam was
spilt, and we experienced drought the
following year --[Laughter.]-- We spilt massively and experienced drought the
following year. Did the Hon Deputy
Minority Leader, go to pray, when that
happened? As if the prayer would fill the
dam for us.
Mr Speaker, we must admit that the water
pattern has changed. It has become very
erratic, and that is why as my Hon
Colleague said, as of now, many of our
compatriots, our Hon Colleagues are in
Egypt, and they are thinking through what
it is that nations must think through to
ameliorate the weather conditions. Here in
Ghana, we must take ourselves seriously.
Mr Speaker, I keep saying this and
repeating myself — Burkina Faso is growing trees down south and up north in
Ghana, we are cutting down the few trees
that we have such that the southern portion
of Burkina Faso is now greener than the
northern portion of Ghana. What do we
expect? The weather becomes very
unpredictable; rainfall patterns change
dramatically, and when they come — It does not rain in the Sahara Desert but when
it rains on one occasion, they come with
such torrents that they sweep the sand, and
the dews are swept to distances - sometimes, for about 10 kilometres, a whole
dew may be swept away. That is what we
are encouraging in Ghana; we should take
ourselves seriously and address our minds
and ourselves to the changing weather
pattern in Ghana —
