Special topics
The long-standoff between the Volta River Authority (VRA) and their communities at Aboadze over the utilization of land for energy projects has been resolved.
Following the peaceful resolution of misunderstanding, the VRA has presented an undisclosed amount of money, built four places of convenience and provided a 48,000-litre water reservoir to communities made up of Aboadze, Abuesi, and Dwomo as part of the process to pacify their gods. The pacification of the gods and improved relationship between the VRA and the communities will now pave the way for the authority to utilize 172 acres out of the 421.8 it acquired in 1994 for power projects. The communities prevented the VRA from further utilization of the land because it had not paid compensation to them. Additionally, the communities contended that the VRA had desecrated part of the Land by displacing the gods of Aboadze for the construction of the Takoradi Three plant (T3) for which reason the plant had only work only for a short time after its inauguration. Making the presentation, the Director of Environment at VRA Mr. Kwesi Peprah, commended the Chiefs and people for their patience when the authority was making every effort to resolve the issues.
He said VRA valued the good relationship with its host communities and that the stakeholder engagement was very important to the authority
The god’s pacification
The chief of Aboadze, Nana Kobina Attom III, said the traditional council would commence the process to pacify the gods.
He gave an assuarance that after the pacification, the VRA would see a lot of progress in its operations, adding that the communities were not against were not against development but rather wanted to ensure that social and cultural values were respected for peaceful coexistence.
Nana Attom said the focus of the new relationship with the VRA was to ensure that dialogue was used in all their deliberations to ensure the sustainable development of the area.
Brief Background
Until recently, the VRA had operated peacefully at Aboadze but the chiefs and people of the town demanded compensation for the large acreage of land that was taken from them. The three host communities in the Shama district in the Western Region indicated that in 1994, the government acquired 421.08 acres belonging to families for the construction of the power station.
After giving the land to the VRA, the authority had not been able to pay the due compensation to the communities.
The chiefs and people of the communities said the VRA had desecrated the resting place of the gods and that the T3 would not work until were resettled and pacified.
Source: Daily Graphic