The yearly ritual since 2007 of floods caused partly by incessant rainfall and spills from the Bagre and the Kampianga dams from our northern neighbour, Burkina Faso, came to a head last year, 2010. For example, in the Central Gonja District alone 2,511 people were uprooted from their homes; 23,588 farms destroyed; 55 schools carried along; 1,109 livestock destroyed; and 3,234 houses collapsed all amounting to GHS 206,780 thus according to NADMO. This account is symptomatic of the rest of the affected areas right from Nabdam through to Swedru and to Ada.<\/p>\n
Though our disaster management organisation, had been preparing for this it eventually turned out rather very hard for them to deal with. Other disaster relief responses poured in from public spirited organisations such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent, CARE International and the USAID. However, some of these additional relief responses did not make the mark on time probably due to compassion fatigue.<\/p>\n
From a worm\u2019s- eye view, the response mechanism appears poorly coordinated. And the truth remains that we were not just prepared for it. Furthermore, blaming it largely on climate change as was the cry last year is just to cover these multitudes of sins.<\/p>\n
Since, 2007 when we started suffering from the soon-to-become perennial flooding, one would have thought that the disaster early warning signs should have been spotted and plans put in place to avoid or contain any potential floods which would come to overwhelm the nation.<\/p>\n
Firstly, the collaboration between Ghana and Burkina Faso (the one with the largest basin area of 42.9% and that of Ghana of about 41%) has been patchy at best since independence and has purely been based on modus Vivendi. The latest being the Trans-boundary Committee between the Upper East Coordinating Council and the Central East Province of Burkina Faso to manage the water resources of the Volta Basin.<\/p>\n
Besides, in 2007 the riparian states took a major step forward and formed a Transboundary Authority called the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) headquartered in Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n
While in Accra for a ministerial council meeting, the Chief Executive, Dr. Biney said in part that the VBA formation was to ensure a holistic management of the basin and that \u201cwhat one country does with regards to the Volta Basin could affect another country\u201d.<\/p>\n
Surely, come November 2010 we were at the mercy of our northern neighbours once again because they just needed to spill the hydro dams all of a sudden. Three issues arise here namely could the VBA not have coordinated the information between the states in the build up to that crisis point; could the spills not have been opened gradually from the time the build up was getting to the flood stage; and did Ghana not anticipate this worst case scenario with the institutional memories of the previous ones.<\/p>\n
In a study by Youkhana and his colleagues, it is noted that the historical collaboration between Ghana and Burkina Faso has been on the exchange of hydro-meteorological data on the possible management of the water resources of the Volta basin. They further point out that: \u201cIn the case of possible spilling, information is transmitted from SONABEL in Burkina Faso to VRA which in turn relays the information [to] its regional offices in the affected areas. The regional administration offices are also informed for the relevant action to be taken at the local level. However, it is on record that in some instances VRA is informed at rather short notices therefore affecting information flow to the affected areas\u201d(emphasis mine).<\/p>\n
Regrettably, VBA was not even mentioned in passing as regards this information flow between the riparian states during the said period. There is even the conspiracy theory that SONABEL did not do a full disclosure of the volume to spill last year.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, this long and winding information flow could be telescoped and properly coordinated at the VBA level for immediate and speedy detection of disaster early warning signs. Besides, the regional administrations and VRA has no capacity and logistics for dealing with disaster hence the need for NADMO representation at that regional decision-making level so that the immediacy of such spills are properly managed to at least save loss of lives.<\/p>\n
The silver lining however of this ugly picture is that Ghana\u2019s area of the basin has an irrigation potential of about 1200000(ha) only second to Burkina Faso. According to Vlek and others, the \u201cirrigation development in Ghana and Burkina Faso are modest \u2026 but rapid expansion of the irrigation in Burkina Faso and stagnation in Ghana shows the different development paths\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that Burkina Faso had over 1100 dams, some converted to reservoirs for drinking, irrigation and for cattle. This even at some point caused minimal discharge for the lower Volta causing Ghana disruptions in power generation. Conversely, if Ghana were to enhance her irrigation potential as does Burkina Faso it would be able to capture the discharge as well as the spills for similar utility.<\/p>\n
Though some Ghanaians along the basin are eking out a living from the banks, it is recorded that their farming modes along the basin are causing siltation and other destructive tendencies contributing to flooding situations in those areas. This calls for government to extend agricultural extension services to them to save the basin from further siltation.<\/p>\n
Enter the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). As part of its vision, SADA seeks to ensure the reduction in poverty in the Northern Savannah Ecological Belt and this concurs with one of VBA\u2019s mandates of poverty alleviation through sustainable development in the Volta Basin. These institutional efforts should be coordinated into an integrated development framework so that their efforts do not become disjointed.<\/p>\n
That said, Ghana this year should begin preparing for the worst case scenario by putting NADMO and the other auxiliary agencies on red alert while the VBA is urged to coordinate the hydro-meteorological data flow between the riparian states just in case\u2026!<\/p>\n
By Nasirudeen Abdul-Salam Abdul-Shaheed
Coventry University London Campus<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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