Danger looms at Yeji in the Pru District of the Brong Ahafo Region as many travel without life jackets.
Despite the danger associated with travelling without life jackets, many still travel on the Volta Lake to and fro from Yeji to overbank communities. The situation is worse on Saturday and Sundays which are market days in Yeji.
Over the years, Yeji has recorded most boat disasters in the country. In June 2016, 20 people, including a pregnant woman, drowned whiles traveling from Nantwekope to Yeji.
Chairman of Yeji Boat Operators Society, Noah Kwame Sarfo, in an interview said many members of the association are doing their best.
“The life jackets are in adequate and the passengers are also refusing to wear the few ones available. The navy should rather arrest passengers who have life jackets and refuse to wear them. The arrest of boat operators would not serve as a deterrent because they provide the few jackets but the passengers refuse to wear them,” Mr Sarfo noted.
Mr Sarfo also blames the accidents on the lake at Yeji to the numerous stumps.
According to him boat operators are exposed to the stumps when the lake dries up.
He is, therefore, appealing to the Ministry of Transport to collaborate with the boat operators to show them which stumps need to be cut to make traveling on the lake safer.
Source: GhanaWeb
