News:
June 10, 2014
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Afram Plains North, Emmanuel Didieye Aboagye, has embarked on a rescue mission by rehabilitating a pontoon to serve his constituents, who commute between the Eastern and Volta Regions.
The people of the area have for the past two years endured the pain of using wretched canoes powered by outboard motors to cross the Volta Lake from one community to the other, at the peril of their lives. The MP, worried about this phenomenon, told The Chronicle moments after inspecting the run down pontoon, named ‘Nana Kwasi Gyimah’, at Akosombo last Thursday, to know the cost of the rehabilitation, that he has had sleepless nights trying to find a solution to the problem.
He said the problem when solved would open up business and create employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youth in the north-eastern part of Afram Plains and some parts of the Volta Region. According to him, due to the persistent accident of canoes on the Volta Lake commuting between Agodeke, Kpando Torkor and Aveme Torkor, it has become his number one priority to ensure that the hardship of his people is ameliorated.
He has pledged to sacrifice his car loan, a facility he secured from Parliament, as a member of the legislature to service the pontoon, which two engines have completely broken down. “There is no pontoon serving the people of Afram Plains North who have socio-economic and cultural ties with the people of Volta Region and, therefore, depend on bad canoes powered by outboard motors.
“We have had incidents of boats getting capsized and innocent people losing their lives while traveling between Agodeke and Kpando Torkor. As MP for the area, I want to see an end to this problem. When the pontoon gets back to service and my people are free, it is there that I can enjoy my sleep,” he stressed.
The Managing Director of the Volta Lake Transport Company (VLTC), Eric Kweku Yarboi, told the MP that a team of engineers were working on the old pontoon to assess the cost of the rehabilitation, which would be communicated to him in two weeks time.