Paramount Chief of Buipe Traditional Area in the Central Gonja District, Abdulai Jinapor II has appealed to government and the management of Bui Dam to come to the rescue of hundreds of residents who have been displaced by flood waters from the Bui Dam.
This comes after authorities at the Bui Dam opened one of its five outlets (pipes), forcing the water into the White Volta back to Buipe.
The spillage, which has resulted in a flood, has destroyed public and private properties.
Addressing the media during an inspection tour of the affected areas, Buipewura Abdulai Jinapor II said “Buipe bridge helps create an economic hub for Buipe and we have seen water drown almost half of the bridge, and our people in the area are in the water now.”
The Chief said the victims who have lost greater part of their belongings, are in a state of distress and can barely boast of anything.
“We are crying to the whole world, the government and the Bui Dam Authorities that they should come and see our sorrow,” he pleaded.
Both public and private properties like school buildings, electricity poles and wires are badly affected.
Food crops such as maize and millet including tubers like yam and cassava and livestock were either submerged or carried away by the
flood waters.
According to Mr. Jinapor, “a lot of the people had to be relocated. They had to be put in schools and the schools can not allow the students there.”
“So, we are going to have double danger. School children cannot go to school and people too cannot work”, he stated.
The chief said that roads leading to the affected schools in distant communities popularly known as ‘oversea schools’ are automatically closed.
District Chief Executive for Central Gonja, Salia Kamara told journalists that despite the huge negative impact on the ground, no life has been lost.
He said that victims who are either fisher folks, vegetable growers or business people, will always run and return after the flood.
“This water is not as a result of heavy downpours but whenever they open the Bui Dam, it causes this problem. Currently, the Bui Dam has opened one of its pipes and closed the other halfway and look at what is happening to us?” Mr. Kamara said.
He added that “thousands of people are displaced” noting that normally, some don’t have even houses “but they are in the community. Some sleep outside because their business is here.”
Mr. Salia Kamara maintained that those who sleep outside no longer have space and have run away hoping to return and continue with their activities.
“We also have people who ran away and their properties as you can see have submerged. But currently, we are trying to close down one other school so that those who are displaced will occupy it,” the DCE stated.
On the fate of pupils and their teachers in Buipe, the DCE said that “we will put them in other schools so that when the water goes back, we can send the children back to their various schools.”
The DCE later presented 10 safety jackets to the rescue team that is using the canoe in the area.
