Togbe Komla Sakpiti V rarely raises his voice in public, but these days the weight pressing on the Bakpa Awadiwoekome stool is hard to hide. Since the Akosombo Dam spillage of September–October 2023 swamped communities across the Tongu enclave, families in his jurisdiction have been living in tents or squatting with relatives, waiting for a resettlement promise that has yet to materialise.

The disaster displaced tens of thousands in North, Central and South Tongu, submerging homes, farms and clinics. In the months that followed, governments announced committees and funds — a panel was set up under the previous administration, dissolved after the 2024 transition, then revived by the new NDC government.

But nearly three years later, residents say they have heard nothing concrete. “We don’t know whether to rebuild or keep waiting,” one elder in Awadiwoekome told neighbours at a recent community meeting. Togbe Sakpiti V, whose people still fetch water from unsafe sources and sleep under leaking tarpaulins, is now fielding daily pressure from youth groups and mothers who want answers.

Official records show that a resettlement plan was launched in 2024 with GH¢200 million committed for 2,803 houses in Tongu, and officials spoke of 115 units being built and later of 2,225 homes in phases.

Yet visits to Degorme, Aveyime and nearby islands find hundreds — pregnant women, children, fishermen who lost nets and canoes — still in classroom shelters and tents, without clinics or livelihood support. Absence of a clear timetable and transparent register of beneficiaries has deepened frustration.

For Togbe Sakpiti V, the human toll is what matters: a community reluctant to trust official calendars, families divided between camps and host households, and young people drifting away.

“The chief is not against government,” a local teacher explained, “but he is asked every week: what do we tell our children?”

As rainy seasons return and VRA warns of future controlled spills, Togbe Sakpiti V is appealing for one thing he says would calm tempers — a public update, names on a list, and work crews on actual sites in Bakpa Awadiwoekome, not just press statements.

For now, life remains in limbo: nights under canvas, days borrowing cooking space from relatives, and a chief balancing custom with a growing demand for action.

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Three years after flood, Tongu victims still waiting as chief pleads for help

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