Akosombo Dam Spillage: Sanitation minister Freda Prempeh blaming flood victims is bad leadership

In a country where politicians in power are always right for even their wrong, poorly planned, and weak strategies, the over 12,000 victims of a poorly planned and poorly implemented Akosombo Dam Spillage would be blamed on flood victims.

How on earth can you have the courage to blame people you failed to inform for not heeding early warnings by authorities to evacuate?

The Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Freda Prempeh, has stated that the current situation in the affected areas is to be blamed on the victims.

However, this attempt to conveniently shift the blame to the victims of the Akosombo dam spillage is the weakest way to think in the 21st century.

How many days elapsed between when the communities were informed of an impending spillage and when the spillage was started?

What was the planned spillage per day at the time, and was this communicated?

Did the VRA know it was going to spill the quantum of water it has been spilling since it started?

Did it know through planning that the spillage would cause catastrophic havoc given the quantity of water it planned to spill?

What kind of forward-looking and negative impact-minimizing recommendations did the engineers of the VRA offer at all, if any, prior to the spillage?

For many of these questions, the VRA will not be able to answer; hence, they cannot blame the people. They failed themselves and the entire nation.

This attempt to shift the blame from the VRA and government to the people is a naked attempt to run away from taking responsibility for the harm caused.

Instead of finding an easy escape from poor thinking, timing, and strategies, the Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Freda Prempeh, should be using her energy to provide novel solutions to the annual spillage to prove her worth as the sanitation minister.

A poorly timed spillage is the main cause of the current devastation, and nothing more.

Sanitation minister Freda Prempeh blaming flood victims is bad leadership

Blaming the people is a very poor and unscientific approach to solving problems. She must begin to show leadership.

• Blaming the victims of the Akosombo dam spillage: The Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Freda Prempeh, has stated that the current situation in the affected areas is to be blamed on the victims. This is an attempt to deflect blame from the authorities, who failed to properly inform and prepare the communities for the spillage.
• Poor planning and implementation: We need to question whether the VRA had a proper plan for the spillage and whether they communicated this plan to the affected communities. Did VRA take steps to minimize the negative impact of the spillage? Leadership must have foresight, and those in managerial positions must be able to have a bird’s-eye view of what is to come. Without this, you do not have anything to do in the position you hold and must wake up
• Lack of leadership: The Sanitation and Water Resources Minister should be using her energy to find solutions to the annual spillage rather than blaming the victims. When we need politicians to show leadership, they come out gun-blazing to complain as though they were followers, and that is exactly what someone in a leadership position is doing. Showing leadership by taking responsibility for the harm caused is very important.

It is time to deal with the problems created by the spillage, not time to blame victims or others unless the sanitation minister is not a leader.