10,000 Lake guards trained

Ten thousand lake guards have been trained to safeguard the lives of passengers who travel by boat on the Volta Lake.

The Ghana Navy has since 2009 also provided trainer of trainee programmes for people in communities along the Volta Lake to sensitise them to the hazards that often result in accidents on the lake.

Against the backdrop of the accidents that claimed many lives on the lake, the guards are strictly enforcing security codes, including ensuring that boats on the lake do not exceed the load threshold.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic on the measures the government had taken to eliminate the hitherto frequent disasters on the lake, the Minister of Transport, Ms Dzifa Aku Attivor, stated that the tree stumps that had been the major cause of the accidents were being removed.

Accidents

Two years ago, a boat carrying more than 25 passengers and foodstuffs from Amenorkope in the Krachi-West District to the Dambai market capsized, killing four on the spot, while the rest were rescued by personnel from the Ghana Navy and lifeguards from Zoil Ghana Limited, a private firm responsible for rescue operations on the lake.

To forestall such accidents, the minister said, the lake guards were to ensure that all passengers on board a boat travelling on the lake wore life jackets to avert deaths and injuries in the event of an accident.

Tree stumps

The government in April 2010 signed an agreement with Clark Sustainable Resource Development Limited, a Canadian company, for phase II of the removal of tree stumps from the Volta Lake.

The minister said the company deployed machines within a radius of 350 hectares to harvest the tree stumps, and added that the frequency of lake accidents had since abated.

Ms Attivor indicated that the fact that accidents on the lake were caused by human factors occasioned the government to partner a private company to provide territorial services along the catchment area.

According to her, the government had invested on the Volta Lake and indicated that more would be done to protect the lives of the people living in the 750 communities along the lake.

Previous accidents

Thirty-five lives were lost in the Volta Lake Disaster in August 7, 2011, after a pontoon they were travelling on sank at a village called Kpevi, near Krachi.

In September of that same year, about 50 passengers, mainly traders aboard a pontoon on the Volta Lake from Kete-Krachi to Ekpedzi in the Volta Region, were reportedly feared dead when the pontoon capsized.