VRA has not donated any relief items to us – Dzifa Gomashie denies claims to the contrary

Abla Dzifa Gomashie, the Member of Parliament for Ketu South, has denied reports that she and two other MPs in the Volta Region’s southern enclave got aid supplies from the Volta River Authority (VRA).

The MP for Anlo, Kwame Sefe, and Kwame Dzudzorli Gakpey of Keta, neither of whom had received any such things from the VRA, she said, making the alleged report erroneous and deceptive.

She used the occasion to clarify her actions and those of the other two MPs in a picture that went along with the allegations made about this purported distribution of aid supplies.

“We have come across a news item published in Opera News on the above subject matter, which purported that the Volta River Authority (VRA) has donated some relief items to flood victims in three constituencies in the Volta Region and received by us, namely Hon. Abla Dzifa Gomashie, MP of Ketu South; Hon. Kwame Sefe, MP for Anlo and Hon. Kwame Dzudzorli Gakpey.

“The picture accompanying the story is misleading, as the two Members of Parliament were there to witness the arrival of the goods but have not received the said donation for their constituencies. We only signed for medications which the Directors of Municipal and District Health Officials received on behalf of their hospitals,” she wrote in an official statement.

Dzifa Gomashie urged the people to treat the news item with disdain and to ignore it altogether.

She emphasized the individual efforts she and her fellow representatives from the impacted areas had made to provide aid to their residents.

She underlined that the VRA, which triggered the floods, has never offered them any kind of humanitarian assistance since the Akosombo Dam leak.

“We wish to state emphatically, that, this publication and its claims are false, and must be treated with the contempt it deserves.

“Since numerous communities in our respective constituencies got flooded as a result of the spillage of the Volta Dams in Akosombo and Kpong by the VRA. We have personally been out there mobilizing through the help of individuals and organizations to obtain relief items for our people. At no point in all these efforts, have we had the VRA donate any items to us as Members of Parliament for onward distribution to the fond victims in our respective constituencies,” she added.

Ken Ofori-Atta, the minister of finance, has revealed in the 2024 Budget Statement and Economic Policy that GH¢220 will be used to provide aid for those impacted by flooding in the Volta Region and several other parts of the nation.

“Honourable Speaker, government has budgeted an amount of GH¢220 million to support the relief phase for the communities affected by he Akosombo Spillage, as well as floods upstream in the Oti, Savannah, and Bono East Regions,” he said.