The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta, has revealed that the government has budgeted GH¢220 million to support the relief effort for the communities affected by the Akosombo spillage.
Flood victims upstream in the Oti, Savannah, and Bono-East Regions are also part of the relief support.
The Minister made this known while presenting the 2024 budget, titled “Nkumin,” to wit, victory, yesterday in Parliament and added that for the restoration phase, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, will allocate additional resources to support the restoration of livelihoods.
According to him, the visit of the officials of the Ministry of Finance and himself, in collaboration with VRA, to the victims of the Akosombo Dam Spillage in Mepe was truly revealing and sobering.
“We empathise with the families that have been affected and displaced by the spillage. We met victims, townsfolk, children, the chiefs, and of course the Honourable Okudzeto,” he said.
He further indicated that the government, through the Volta River Authority, NADMO, and various agencies under the 13-member high-level inter-ministerial committee (comprising of the Ministries of Energy, Finance, Local Government, Environment, Interior, Health, Sanitation & Water Resources, Defense, Roads & Highways, Education, Information, Health, and Gender), has subsequently provided various forms of support to the impacted communities.
This support, according to the minister, included food and related items, drinks, mattresses, mosquito nets and coils, clothes, baby food and diapers, sanitary pads, treated water services and storage tanks, solar lamps, sanitation services, restoration of utility services, and some social infrastructure.
The Minister recognizes the importance of climate policy and financing to help address the long-term effects of climate change on victims of drought, flooding, and other adverse weather events.
“The Ministry has applied to the Global Shield Against Climate Risk Fund, an initiative launched by President Nana Akufo-Addo and Chancellor Olaf Scholz during COP 27 in Sham El-Sheikh, to access some financial resources to support communities”, he added.
