The Executive Director of the Bureau of Public Safety, Dr. Nana Yaw Akwada, has strongly criticized Ghana’s failure to protect its most vulnerable citizens following the tragic boat disaster on the Volta Lake at Kete Krachi, which claimed 15 lives, including 11 children.
Dr. Akwada described the incident as a heartbreaking reflection of the country’s weak accountability systems.
“As we speak now, as a country, we have not been able to protect the lives of the vulnerable in society,” he said.
“We are looking at an 11-year-old who has passed on because of someone’s negligence. Where is our system of accountability?”
The Oti Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Foster Dzre, confirmed that an 11-year-old boy was steering the boat at the time of the accident.
The vessel, which was carrying several passengers across the Volta Lake, capsized, killing 15 people and leaving one person still missing.
Dr. Akwada said the tragedy underscores Ghana’s chronic failure to act decisively after preventable disasters.
“We lack a proper system of accountability, so when such things happen, all we get from authorities is rhetoric. Nobody gets held responsible for anything,” he lamented.
He called for direct responsibility to be taken at the ministerial level, particularly within the transport sector.
“I will first of all go for the head of the Minister of Transport,” he said. “He should be answering why he has been in office all these months and we have not seen anything regarding transport safety on our waters.”
Dr. Akwada emphasized that the recurring nature of such accidents, especially involving children, should prompt urgent reforms in water transport regulation and safety enforcement.
