Chiefs, residents, and traders in Agodeke, a farming community in the Afram Plains North District and other surrounding communities, are urgently appealing to the Government and the Volta Lake Transport Company to repair or replace the broken-down ferry that has been out of service for more than a month.
With the ferry grounded, commuters have been forced to rely on wooden boats and canoes—often without life jackets—to travel the 23-nautical-mile route from Agodeke to Kpando in the Volta Region. Many say they live in constant fear for their safety.
The Afram Plains enclave is one of Ghana’s major food baskets, with its fertile lands supporting year-round farming. But farmers, traders, and island communities in Agodeke and surrounding areas say the breakdown of the ferry—the only safe and reliable mode of transport on the lake—has severely disrupted their activities and worsened their hardships.
Residents describe the situation as desperate and are calling for immediate government action.
“It is rather unfortunate that for one month, two weeks now, the engine of the ferry has broken down. We are appealing to the government to provide the necessary resources to fix the ferry because we travel in fear,” one resident said.
The ferry, commissioned in 2016 by then-President John Dramani Mahama, had served as the safest means of transporting passengers and farm produce between Agordeke and Kpando until its recent breakdown.
“We plead with President Mahama to come to our aid, especially because he was the one who provided it for us,” said Nana Akuamoah Boateng Tano II, Chief of Donkorkrom No. 1, in an interview with Channel One News.
For residents, the current crisis revives painful memories of April 5, 1995, when a passenger boat capsized on the same Agordeke–Kpando route, claiming about 140 lives.
In a bid to avoid another such tragedy, the Concerned Citizens of Kwahu Afram Plains North visited the mass graveyard of the victims and later held a press conference to highlight the danger commuters currently face. The group’s spokesperson, Awudu Yakubu Omoro Modoc, reiterated the need for swift intervention to prevent a possible disaster.
