Exempt Mepe and other Flooded Tongu Communities from Electricity Bill Payment: An Open Letter to President Akuffo Addo

Greetings to you, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo. I write this letter to you in accordance with Article 57 (1) of the 1992 Constitution which makes you the President of Ghana, Head of State, Head of government and Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ghana. I am a man of straw, Mr. President, but I understand that your current position of Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces makes you the highest-ranking military officer in Ghana. As such, you have ultimate authority and responsibility for both internal and external defense and security of the entire country or a segment of it. Accordingly, the security of flood victims of Mepe is one of your responsibilities. It is not a thing for you to try and help. Your Excellency, I want to reiterate that ensuring the welfare, security and happiness of the people is the overarching duty of the leader and such a paramount duty must question the inner conscience of the leader so long as he leads and serves the people.

Lamentations of a Flood Victim
Mr. President, I write to you with a heavy heart from a certain segment of Ghana called Mepe. I am a saddened flood victim from Mepe, the town mostly hit by the VRA-induced floods of recent times. You came to Mepe recently on October 16, 2023. I sat with the Chiefs of Mepe when you shook hands with us on your visit. Yes, you shook my hands of straw, Mr. President and I said welcome to Mepe. I was equally scheduled to read a written speech on behalf of the Mepe Traditional Council but the Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa stifled that speech even before your arrival at Mepe that day. As such, he prevented the chiefs from delivering their written speech.

I kept wondering what Dr. Letsa told you on arrival that day that made you make that unpleasant speech which angered many people in Ghana. You said, “I came here [to Mepe] because Ghanaians are having difficulties and suffering. It is my responsibility to try and help because if it is a question of counting who votes for me and who doesn’t’ vote for me, I shouldn’t have been here [Mepe] because you [the people of Mepe] don’t vote for me.” You went on and commanded Torgbe Korsi Nego VI, Manklalo of Mepe Traditional Area to ensure that the chiefs and people of Mepe vote for your political party in subsequent elections.

Regarding the votes for NPP from Tongu, Mr. President, the fact that you do not see them in your camp, assembly or your close circles does not always mean that they are against you. There are NPP members in Tongu and Mepe, the community mostly affected by the floods. Some of them were even reciting party slogans and cheering you on your recent visit to Mepe.

Apart from your foregoing assertions, Mr. President, you cracked so many other unnecessary jokes and said other unprintable things which the media did not carry to press. By your unpleasant assertions under reference, you had corroborated what the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Chairman Wontumi (Bernard Antwi Bosiako) had earlier said to us the flood victims of the three Tongu Districts. That unguided ethnocentric gentleman was reported to have said,” the people of Tongu and for that matter Mepe do not vote for the NPP hence the flood victims should not expect help from the Akuffo Addo Administration. They should go to the NDC for help. They should not disturb Nana Addo, the President. One of your female Ministers later made similar ethno-partisan comments.

At the time you came, we were homeless, hungry, exposed to harsh weather conditions and reptiles. We were like the Biblical Israelites in the wilderness who needed comfort, direction and consolation from a leader your standing. We needed potable water, clothes, beddings, food and medications. We did not need a comic relief and voting for a political party was non-existent on our flooded and confused minds.

President, you came to we the heartbroken flood victims at Mepe. The flood was induced by VRA’s spillage of huge volumes of water from the Akosombo Dam at very high wave velocities. You were neither on a political rally platform nor on a performance stage at the National Theatre. As such, you were not expected as Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces to crack jokes or talk about votes that day. Your doing so was, therefore, uncalled for, methinks. Your exchanging of pleasantries with us that day and telling us unpleasant things immediately afterwards was tantamount to drawing us closer to you with one hand and slapping us with the other. As vulnerable flood victims, Mr. President, we least expected any Ghanaian to do that to us, not to think that the President of Ghana, the first gentleman of the land would do that to us in the face of abject adversity. Some of us felt that you were complacent by the provisions of Article 57 (2) of the Constitution to look down on us. That Article states that as the President of Ghana, you take precedence over all other persons in Ghana including the vulnerable flood victims of Mepe.

We are bitter by that your unpleasant comment cited ut supra. However, God commands all of us to forgive one another. Accordingly, some of us from Mepe have forgiven you, hoping that you will be more concerned of our plights going forward. The floods have shaken the foundations of our livelihood.

The Undeclared State of Emergency
Mr. President, it is trite knowledge that Article 11 of the 1992 Constitution touches on the sources of Law in Ghana and Article 11 (1) (c) specifically states that any Orders, Rules and Regulations made by any person or authority under a power conferred by this Constitution shall be a law in Ghana. In my considered view, the combined effects of Articles 11, 31 and 58 of the Constitution, 1992 mandate you to issue an Executive Instrument (E.I.) to declare a state of emergency in the three Tongu Districts mostly affected by the floods resulting from VRA’s rapid water spillage from the Akosombo Dam.

Regarding the declaration of state of emergency, Article 31 (1) of the Constitution reads, “The President may, acting in accordance with the advice of the Council of State, by Proclamation published in the Gazette, declare that a state of emergency exists in Ghana or in any part of Ghana for the purposes of the provisions of this Constitution” Clause 9 of the same Article 31 mandates you the President of Ghana to declare a state of emergency when a natural disaster occurs or in “any situation in which any action is taken or is immediately threatened to be taken by any person or body of persons which - (a) is calculated or likely to deprive the community of the essentials of life; or (b) renders necessary the taking of measures which are required for securing the public safety, the defense of Ghana and the maintenance of public order and of supplies and services essential to the life of the community.” Sequel to the floods, we of Mepe Traditional Area were actually deprived of the essentials of life such as potable water, shelter, food and many other basic needs when you visited us, joked and canvassed for votes even in our vulnerable state of adversity.

We needed progressively effective governmental measures that would secure our safety as flood victims but that too was non-existent. At the time you came to us, we of Mepe were equally homeless, hungry and thirsty due to the devasting nature of the contaminated flood waters resulting from the Dam water spillage. According to the constitutional provisions cited herein, we of Mepe were deprived of public order and of supplies and services essential to our life as a community.” Sadly, Mepe and its environs did not get the state of emergency from your Administration, Mr. President and we were also denied your consolation as the father of the nation when you came to us.

Mr. President, many legal brains and a non-legal brain of the man of straw writing to you opined that the VRA-induced flooding of Mepe and other Tongu communities and its resultant untold hardships of the flood victims warranted the declaration of a state of emergency, but you did not declare it.

In my view, Mr. President, a state of emergency refers to a situation where the government grants special powers to address a crisis or threat to public safety. It, therefore, allows temporary restrictions and measures to be put in place to protect citizens and maintain public order. To this end, does it mean that Mepe and other Tongu floods did not qualify as a crisis or threat to public safety to warrant a presidential granting of special powers to address the devasting effects of the floods?

Request For Exemption of Mepe and other Flooded Communities from Electricity Bill Payment

Mr. President, Mepe and its flooded sister communities in the North, South and Central Tongu Districts draw electricity from the turbines of the same Akosombo Dam from which VRA spilled water rapidly to cause the floods. From a macro-economic perspective, one may say that the people of Mepe and other flooded communities enjoy positive externality from the Akosombo Dam and at the same time they are affected by negative externalities including but not limited to the recent floods. The construction of the Dam itself had deprived the fishermen and clam/oyster pickers of their once vibrant riverine economic activities.

However, positive externalities should basically be enjoyed at no cost. As such, in view of the fact that the people of Mepe and their neighbours have been paying for electricity over the years, then it can be said with certainty that the Akosombo Dam inures no or limited positive externalities to the communities in Tongu. In reverse, the floods constitute some of the negative externalities the people of Mepe endure from the construction and operation of the Akosombo Dam.

Mr. President, the VRA Management argued that the very high-water levels in the Akosombo Dam emanated from heavy rains in Ghana and Burkina Faso. We know, Mr. President, that irregular and unpredictable rainfall patterns are some of the devasting effects of climate change in contemporary times. As such, it is possible that VRA may be compelled almost every year to spill water from the Dam which are likely to flood the communities downstream including Mepe.

Consequently, Mr. President, it will be reasonable to exempt the people of Mepe and other communities that are currently flooded due to the dam water spillage from payment of electricity bills. Also, other communities in the three Tongu Districts that are likely to be flooded due to any such future spillages from the Dam should be made to use free electricity or use electricity at a reduced charge.

We are aware, Mr. President, that members of the Akosombo community where the Dam is located also pay such minimal electricity bills. It will, therefore, be fair if Mepe and other flooded communities enjoy such deserving privileges in the nature of free electricity or electricity at a reduced charge. My humble request is that you should kindly cause the passage of a statutory instrument that EXEMPTS Mepe and other flooded communities in Tongu from payment of electricity bills. Aside that, VRA should compensate the people and create employment opportunities for them.

Conclusion
Dear President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, I hope ardently that this open letter finds you in good health and that you will not only read it but also consider its contents in your favorable Cabinet decision-making going forward. The most reasonable thing to do when a tethered pregnant goat is in labour is to free the goat to lessen the labour pains. Mepe is currently a tethered pregnant goat in labour so she needs significant reliefs from your Administration in diverse ways to endure the labour pains to forestall preventable “maternal mortality.” ~Asante Sana~

Philip Afeti Korto
A flood victim of Mepe whom you recently shook hands with