News
Annual Bagre Dam Spillage — A Blessing or Curse?
For many farming communities scattered along the White and Black Volta basins, the rainy season brings both promise and peril — a time when the blessings of rainfall merge with the dread of annual flooding triggered by the spillage of Burkina Faso’s Bagre Dam.
A few weeks ago, officials in Ouagadougou confirmed what residents in Northern Ghana had long feared — the controlled release of water from the Bagre reservoir.
While the measure is necessary to prevent the dam’s collapse, it has for decades spelled destruction downstream, leaving Ghana’s northern regions counting their losses year after year.
The story is all too familiar. Entire fields of maize, rice, and groundnuts vanish beneath raging waters. Mud-walled houses crumble under the force of the floods, while roads connecting villages disappear, schools close, and classrooms are turned into makeshift shelters for displaced families.
The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) rushes in with mattresses, blankets, and bags of rice, but the relief items, though vital, are often insufficient compared to the magnitude of devastation. In Yagaba, for instance, some victims reportedly received no support at all due to limited resources.
“This year, at least there was some education on resilience and preparedness,” said Issah Yakubu, a farmer from the North East Region who lost his crops in last year’s floods. “But when the water comes, we lose everything — maize, rice, groundnuts. When it goes, there’s nothing left to eat or sell,” he lamented.
NADMO continues to urge residents in flood-prone areas across the Upper East, North East, Savannah, and Northern Regions to relocate to safer grounds. But for many, relocation is not an option. Their livelihoods are tied to the fertile riverbanks; abandoning their farms would mean abandoning the only source of income they know.
Last year alone, thousands of people were displaced across northern Ghana due to flooding.
Yet, amidst the destruction lies an irony. The same floods that wreak havoc also deposit nutrient-rich silt on farmlands, making them fertile for dry-season farming.
Agricultural experts argue that, with proper irrigation systems and government support, these communities could turn disaster into opportunity. “The spillage is both a challenge and a blessing,” said rice farmer, Aziz Zakaria. “If we had irrigation schemes, we could use this same water to grow crops in the dry season. The water that destroys can also sustain us,” he added.
Some have argued that the long-promised solution lies in the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam in the Upper East Region — envisioned to serve as a buffer for excess water from Bagre, generate electricity, and irrigate thousands of hectares of farmland.
However, delays in implementation have left communities trapped in a yearly cycle of loss and recovery.
Civil society organisations have repeatedly called for a shift from relief-based interventions to long-term resilience strategies — strengthening infrastructure, empowering communities, and developing sustainable livelihoods.
The broader picture is even more concerning. With the global climate crisis intensifying, rainfall patterns across the Sahel have become increasingly erratic. Burkina Faso’s dam managers are often compelled to spill earlier, or even multiple times in a single season, to protect the integrity of the Bagre Dam.
The result is an unpredictable flood cycle that leaves Ghana’s northern communities living in constant fear and their futures washed away by forces beyond their control.
As the waters rose once again this year, displacing countless innocent families, one truth remains undeniable: until proactive measures are taken ahead of the next season, the Bagre Dam spillage will continue to shift from a yearly natural occurrence to what is truly a slow-motion, man-made disaster.
By Geoffrey Buta, Tamale
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About 200 company secretaries, governance professionals and institutional leaders will gather in Accra for the ‘Company Secretaries Summit’ next month.
It is aimed at strengthening governance practices and enhance boardroom effectiveness across the country.
The summit, which is scheduled for July 16 at the Labadi Beach Hotel seeks to equip governance professionals with the knowledge, skills, and networks required to navigate the increasingly complex demands of modern corporate leadership.
It will feature keynote presentations, panel discussions, and interactive sessions focusing on emerging governance trends, boardroom dynamics, regulatory compliance, digital transformation, and stakeholder expectations.
According to the convener, Catherine Engmann, the summit comes at a critical time when governance professionals are under growing pressure to support sound decision-making, strengthen governance culture, and respond effectively to changing institutional and regulatory environments.
“This gathering is not just another conference. It is a platform for governance leaders who are already operating at the highest level and intend to stay there,” she said.
She noted that the programme was designed to provide participants with practical tools, fresh insights, and valuable professional connections.
According to Ms Engmann, a major highlight of the event will be the awards ceremony, which will recognise individuals and organisations that have demonstrated excellence in governance practice and made significant contributions to improving board effectiveness and corporate accountability.
She mentioned that the summit will also offer participants an opportunity to benchmark their practices against industry standards, exchange ideas with peers, and explore innovative approaches to governance challenges.
Beyond the formal sessions, the event is expected to foster networking and collaboration among governance professionals, helping to strengthen governance practices across Ghana’s corporate and institutional landscape.
Speaking about the vision behind the initiative, Ms Engmann, said the summit was inspired by the need to create a dedicated platform that recognises the critical role played by company secretaries and governance professionals.
According to her, the Company Secretaries’ Summit and Awards reflects her conviction that Ghana’s governance professionals deserve an annual platform where they can engage in meaningful discussions, build strategic relationships, and receive recognition for their contributions to effective governance.
Registration for the summit, she said was currently open, with interested professionals encouraged to secure their participation ahead of the event.
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
-1 cup dried soya beans
-4–5 cups for water (for blending)
-Extra water for soaking
-Sugar, honey or dates (optional, for sweetness)
-Vanilla extract (optional)
Preparation
-Pick through the beans to remove stones or damaged seeds and rinse thoroughly
-Place them in a large bowl and cover with plenty of water. Soak for at least eight hours or overnight to soften it to blend easier
– After soaking, rub the beans with your hands as the skin begins to remove
– Removing the skins helps reduce the ‘beany’ taste and improves texture
– Put the soaked beans into a blender with 4–5 cups of clean water
-Blend until smooth and milky. (You may need to do this in batches depending on your blender size).
– Using a clean muslin cloth or fine sieve, strain the blended mixture into a pot. (Squeeze well to extract as much liquid as possible).
-The leftover pulp is called okara. Don’t throw it away — it can be used in baking, porridge, or even added to stews.
– Place the strained milk on medium heat and make it boil. Stir continuously to prevent burning or overflowing.
– Allow it to boil for at least 20–25 minutes. Proper boiling removes the raw taste and neutralises natural compounds that can upset the stomach.
-Once boiled a little sugar or honey. Pulse.gh
Health benefits of Soya beans
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