Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mubarak, and Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor will, on Wednesday, July 2, appear before Parliament to answer questions on the lack of life jackets in communities that commute by water.

This comes after 7 students of Lawra Senior High School Saturday, June 14 drowned in the Black Volta River near Dikpe after their canoe capsized during a routine cadet jogging exercise.

This was made known by the Majority Leader and Chairman of the Business Committee, Mahama Ayariga.

All members of the school’s cadet group, had decided to jog along the riverside at Dikpe on Saturday morning, June 14.

There were a total of 16 of them, 11 girls and 5 boys. Ten of the 16 students, including 8 girls and 2 boys, chose to board a canoe managed by a young boy in an attempt to cross the Black Volta River at Dikpe.

Their commander jumped into the river to save the lives of his comrades and was able to rescue three students.

Tragically, seven of them perished in the water. The seven deceased students came from various parts of the Upper West Region: two from Lawra Constituency, two from Daffiama/Bussie/Issah, one from Nandom, one from Wa, and one from Nadowli/Kaleo.

Member of Parliament for Lawra, Hon. Bide A. Ziedieng, has called for public education on security measures that must be ensured during transportation by water bodies.

Meanwhile, Mahama Ayariga has urged all select committees to thoroughly study the legislation establishing the various Departments and Agencies in respect of submitting annual and performance reports to Parliament and ensure that the Departments and Agencies report timely to Parliament for the necessary scrutiny to be conducted as part of the oversight responsibility of Parliament.

According to him, the Business Committee has noted that there are thirty-two (32) outstanding referrals currently before the committees, stressing that, in view of this, the Business Committee is requesting all Chairpersons of the committees to take note of the backlog of referrals and report to the House.