Stakeholders seek mandatory use of life jackets on waterways
The acting Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) the Riverine Command of the Ghana Navy, Naval Captain Ben Baba Abdul, has called for the sensitisation of boat operators in Ada to the use of life jackets by people who make use of the waterways in the area.
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He said education and the enforcement of the use of life jackets before boarding boats would minimise accidents on waterways.
Naval Captain Abdul made the call during a visit to Azizanya by the Member of Parliament for Ada, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe-Ghansah, to assess the situation as far as last Saturday’s accident on the Volta Lake was concerned and commiserate with the families of the victims.
Five people, including three children, lost their lives in that accident when the canoe on which they were traveling capsized at Azizakpe in the Ada East District in the Greater Accra Region.
The affected persons were traveling from Azizanya to Azizakpe, an over-bank community, for a funeral when the accident occurred.
None of the passengers had access to life jackets.
Life jacket is crucial
Naval Captain Abdul charged marine transport operators on the Volta Lake and other water bodies in the country to make the use of life jackets an essential part of their operations in order to protect lives.
“What is key to such problems is education. So, in collaboration with the Ghana Maritime Authority and other stakeholders, we are going to organise educational outreaches. It is well structured back on the Volta Lake and we want to bring the same concept here,” he said.
He said the Navy would work in collaboration with the various stakeholders to work out an immediate remedy to some of the challenges to ensure safety of the people who travelled on the lake.
Background
The accident, which occurred around 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 18, 2023, was allegedly caused by overloading and strong winds.
A survivor, Gifty Mamle Agbasi, said none of the passengers on the canoe was wearing a life jacket.
According to her, there were no life jackets on board, adding that apart from two crates of drinks that were on board, the canoe carried no goods.
“We were more than the number the boat was supposed to carry and the operator told us that nothing will happen,” she said.
She added that a few minutes after the canoe set off, it capsized, but she was fortunate to have been saved by some rescuers who rushed in with canoes.
Free life jackets
Madam Cudjoe-Ghansah called on the assembly to procure and distribute life jackets to boat operators along the Volta Lake in Ada.
That, she said, was to help the operators ensure the safety of passengers.
The MP said the assembly, after distributing the life jackets, could then pass a by-law that would require all boaters to wear life jackets for every trip on the waterway.
According to her, because most of the people grew up on the banks of the river and could swim, they saw such investment in life jackets as expensive and unnecessary waste.
She, however, underscored the need for operators to, at all times, insist on the use of life jackets by patrons.
Task force
A former NDC parliamentary aspirant for Ada, Catherine Dela Dzivenu, who also toured the community to commiserate with the victims, called for the setting up of a task force on rivers and waterways used as means of transport to monitor and enforce the wearing of life jackets to avert such disasters.
Writer’s email: benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh
