Communities affected by construction of Akosombo Dam urge government to speed up compensation process

The representatives of the 52 communities affected by the construction of the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam have urged the government to speed up the compensation process.

According to the Conference of the National Association of Resettlement Communities, the government has taken too long to pay them for the destruction of their communities, livelihoods, and cultural heritage, as they sacrificed their settlements to power the country.

This was highlighted at a stakeholders meeting between the Volta River Authority and the National Association of Resettlement Communities, which produced the following report.

After Ghana attained independence, Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, undertook the construction of the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam.

The project which was completed in 1965, saw the resettlement of some 52 communities along the Volta River, with the government promising compensation packages for their sacrifices.

A compensation process that began in 2008 was truncated in 2010 due to identified lapses.

Nana Otioku Amoani Asare III affirmed that he received part payment of his compensation package.

“The government before this one promised to pay the compensation in8 trenches, and they have paid about 4 trenches and we are left with four.

A committee was subsequently set up to look into the alleged fraud after GhC 78 million out of GhC 138 million was paid following the assessment of 987,000 acres of land out of the 2.4 million acres of land affected.

Engineer Dr Dzabaku Kudiabor Ocansey explained that stringent measures are being taken to ensure compensation is paid directly to landowners.

“Those that are not accessed are about 1.4 million acres and then upstream of the Volta River to the north and the Afram plains. But now what we are doing is even if there is an association which is bringing the people together like we see today, we still want the legitimate owners to receive the money from the Lands Commission.

The Chairman of the Conference of the National Association of Resettlement Communities, Togbe Adom Drayi II lauded the Volta River Authority for increasing the annual grant fund of the VRA Resettlement Trust Fund from $500,000 to 1 million to support the development of the resettled communities.

He also implored the government to lift the embargo on the compensation process.

“On the issue of compensation payment, we want the government to lift the embargo that was placed on the payment as a result of the Justice Appau Commission’s work; we are pleading; we are asking the government to lift the embargo because we have suffered for far too long.”

“Over 60 years, our lands have been affected and we think if the government can lift the embargo and streamline the payment it will be good for the resettlement communities”, he said.