GMA checks overloading of boats

Back page April 15, 2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

THE Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has put its navy guards on the major loading stations of the Volta Lake on alert to avoid overloading of boats, particularly during this windy periods on the lake.
The stations are Abotoase, Yeji, Dzemeni, Kete Krachi and Dambai.
The Director-General of the GMA, Mr Peter Issaka Azumah, told the Daily Graphic that the move was necessary to ensure that boat owners did not load beyond the stipulated loading marks on the boats that ply the lake.
He was answering questions as to measures the authority was taking to avoid boat accidents on the lake as the winds on the lake became stronger this year.
"For the past three years, there has not been any record of a boat capsizing on the lake because the guards never allow the boat owners to overload them," he stressed.
Mr Azumah said it was the resolve of the authority to keep a clean sheet as far as boat accidents on the lake were concerned.
In time past, the months of April and May had been terrible for boat owners and passengers plying the lake due to strong winds.
Since the boats were often overloaded with goods and passengers, the heavy winds on the lake made navigation difficult and in the end, the boats usually hit tree stumps in the lake and capsized.
Mr Azumah recalled the exercise by the authority to mark all the boats plying the lake to indicate the maximum loading point and said "this has been successful because the boat owners seem to be complying".
Mr Azumah said the regular education for the boat owners and passengers, mostly market women, was yielding results.
"It is an exercise we are sustaining because such campaigns must be regular," he said.