The Executive Director of Child Rights International, Bright Appiah, has called for the prioritization of the well-being of children in communities affected by the Akosombo spillage.
In a press presentation following a visit to displaced residents in the affected areas, Appiah said that the settlement of families has placed children at risk, with some reporting cases of harassment and verbal abuse.
“Some of them are teenagers, so definitely when they are done bathing, they want to change themselves and all that. So they think that their privacy has been denied as a result of that. Some are also reporting issues of sexual harassment,” Appiah told Citi News.
“We even recorded almost about 0.62% of the children, who said they have in one way or the other been harassed in terms of sexual activities and all that. About 1% of them also complained that they had been verbally abused as a result of that.”
Appiah also noted that the living conditions are detrimental to the well-being of the children.
“When it comes to sleeping arrangements, some of them in the night even prefer to sleep in the corridors than to be in the room because of the way and manner things are done. Because there’s no special attention being paid to children,” he said.
“Everything there is being computed for adults and that makes it very difficult for the children under these circumstances, even their protection rights are being denied.”
The VRA began the controlled water spillage from the Akosombo and Kpong Dams on September 15, 2023, due to a consistent rise in the inflow pattern and water level of the Akosombo reservoir.
Thousands of residents in South Tongu, North Tongu, Central Tongu, Asuogyaman, and several other areas had their homes submerged due to the spillage.
