Member of Parliament for Pru East in the Brong Ahafo region, Kwabena Donkor has accused management of the Volta Lake transport company of ignoring warnings about the deplorable state of a ferry that nearly sank on Wednesday.

About 500 passengers nearly lost their lives when the Yeji-bound ferry they were travelling in from Makango in Tamale in the Northern Region nearly sank on the Volta Lake.

According to reports, the ferry which was overloaded with about four cars, goods and passengers, started sinking due to a leakage and the weight on the ferry.

Fortunately, operators of the vessel quickly identified the leakage and evacuated the passengers with rescue boats belonging to the Ghana Navy.

Dr Donkor in an interview with Joy News' parliamentary correspondent, Elton John Brobbey said lives are at stake and the incident should not be taken lightly.

“Earlier on Tuesday I was in the constituency and I saw the deplorable state of the ferry so I wasn’t too surprised when I heard on Wednesday that it had taken in water.

“I have pictures of a pump on the ferry to suck water that was already seeping into the ferry and therefore with this situation in my opinion, the ferry should never have made the trip until that was repaired. I informed and sent the pictures to the board chariman of the Volta Lake Transport," he said.

Since this is not the first time an incident of this nature has occurred, Dr Donkor is of the view that the Volta Lake Transport Company and all related stakeholders must put in place measures that will prevent an incident of such nature from ever occurring.

"They must ensure that the vessels are safe before they sail and if they are not, why did they sit down for this to happen?" he queried.

He advised that investigations into the incident should not be left to management of Volta Lake Transport. He doubted if the company would independently do enough due diligence on the matter.

The former Power Minister is further demanding that serious considerations are given to proposals for the purchase of a new ferry to aid transportation on the Volta Lake.

A portion of the road fund, in his view, should be made available for the replenishing and reconfiguration of the ferries currently in use.

Dr Donkor called on the Transport Minister to ensure that a working ferry is sent to Yeji to ameliorate the hardship of passengers whose only form of transport is the ferry.  

“For most of us in the riverine areas, the ferries are a critical part of our national transportation infrastructure and just as a lot of attention is paid to roads, we believe the ferries must receive adequate funding ad attention

“A single Ghanaian life is important. We must not allow state institutions to be derelict and allow Ghanaian companies to endanger the very lives of Ghanaians they are meant to serve. Minister of transport must institute this probe as a matter of urgency,” he added.