Kwabena Adu Koranteng Writes
On August 27, 2025, Burkina Faso will once again open the Bagré Dam to spill excess water. And once again, the people of northern Ghana are being asked to brace for floods, destruction, displacement, and despair.
This annual disaster has become a tragic ritual. Burkina Faso opens its gates, and Ghana bleeds.
The Cost of Inaction
In 2010, over 150,000 Ghanaians were displaced and damages exceeded US$200 million.
In 2018, crops worth US$50 million were lost across northern Ghana.
In 2020, more than 20,000 residents were left homeless.
In 2022, the spillage wiped out lives, roads, and farms, costing Ghana a staggering GH¢1.2 billion (US$120 million).
How many more billions must we lose? How many more families must be rendered homeless before we accept the obvious: this is not just an environmental issue—it is a national security crisis.
Burkina Faso Protects Its Dam. Who Protects Ghana’s People?
Let us face the hard truth. Burkina Faso has every right to protect the structural integrity of its dam. But Ghana equally has the sacred duty to protect its citizens. Year after year, our governments issue reactionary warnings, send NADMO to distribute a few mattresses and food items, and then move on. Until the next flood.
This is failure—failure of policy, failure of diplomacy, failure of leadership.
What Must Be Done—Now
Negotiate a binding water treaty with Burkina Faso that has real enforcement power.
Construct buffer dams and flood-control systems across the Volta Basin.
Relocate and compensate vulnerable communities permanently.
Invest in early-warning and disaster-prevention systems, not just disaster relief.
We must move from reaction to prevention. Anything less is betrayal.
A Call to Conscience
Every spillage is predictable. Every flood is avoidable. Yet, every year, Ghana pretends to be surprised. The question is no longer about Burkina Faso’s responsibility. The real question is: When will Ghana wake up?
