The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza has cautioned residents around the Adaklu mountain to avoid farming activities close to the mountain as he believes human activities including deforestation are to blame for the devastating mudslide that hit the place on Wednesday, May 21, 2026.
Speaking during a visit to the affected community with the Volta regional minister, Mr. Agbodza who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Adaklu urged the residents to protect their environment.
“My people are injured at the hospital, but they are not serious injuries and I’ll be visiting them from here to wish them a speedy recovery. If you recall this is the second time in a few years that this has happened. It on both occasions has happened in the night. If it were to happen during the day when my people are on the mountain for farming and other things, it would have been a different story. I am not sure whether we will be lucky for the third time, so my suggestion to the elders is to find a way of let’s have a dialogue as to whether we want to continue cultivating our crops around the mountain,” he said.
To him, it would be easier for the people of Adaklu to abstain from farming bear the mountain because the town is blessed with acres of arable lands.
“Adaklu is blessed with so much land mass that you don’t necessarily need to crop around the mountain, rather let’s see whether we can restore the ecology around the mountain and use it for other profitable things like tourism and others. We’ve had people talking to us about all the potentials, but we keep cropping, cutting down the trees, burning the bush around it. Of course, the trees and the bushes were holding, were holding the mud and the soil,” he added.
The Roads and Highways Minister further pledged to work hand in hand with local authorities to ensure that the safety of the community is prioritized.
“Once you remove them, the soil is loose, so I don’t have the power to decree that nobody should crop around the mountain. It is something that together with the elders we can discuss, so that is the way forward,” he said.
The Volta regional minister, James Gunu on his part assured the affected residents of support claiming that he’s taking steps to relocate residents as a temporary measure to forestall any further disaster.
“The whole place now has become a security zone; you know it’s a disaster scene and anybody visiting this side need to be very careful because we cannot guarantee the safety of our people so we need to send a message around and as indicated by the Honorable minister yes all those who go to the mountain for farming from now need to be very careful because we are entering into the rainy season. There was a severe rain yesterday you know and June, July is coming and we are expecting more rains and so we all have to be very careful.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
