Story: Reuben Sackey

Tempers flared up during the Assurance Committee of Parliament’s sitting on Wednesday, August 28, 2024.

It ensued when Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, clashed with the Housing Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

Mr Ablakwa was questioning the Minister about what he described as the government’s poor attitude toward addressing the suffering of those displaced by the spillage of the Akosombo Dam.

“This is not a matter that we reduce to political football, deflection, red herrings as you are trying to do today. It’s been a year. People are living in distress, people are devastated. Your contractors, after their late arrival, are even behind schedule.”

“When can this committee see your ministry priotitising the plight of the victims of the VRA spillage?” he quizzzed.

However, Mr Oppong Nkrumah took offence to the Chairman’s posture.

“If we are being sincere you have been one of the people that has been whipping up the impression that somebody doesn’t care,” he said regarding military deployment undertaken during the spillage.

As the tension rose, Mr Ablakwa retorted that “this is my committee, you don’t come here and dictate. I am the chair of this committee.”

But Kojo Oppong Nkrumah further pushed back, insisting that this was not the case, leading to a heated exchange between the two.

The Housing Minister continued; “when you announce the whole republic that the military had been asked to withdraw from the Volta Region, chairman, that wasn’t sincere.”

“Because the military had not been asked to withdraw from the entire Volta Region. They had been asked to move from one place to the other.”