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.

This call follows the death of seven students of Lawra Senior High School on Saturday, June 14.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, the legislator said: “Let us take preventive steps, including public education on safety and river transport security. The time has come for us to rise above partisanship and political point-scoring. The safety and development of our people must take precedence."

"This should serve as a national wake-up call a tragic alarm bell sounding from the banks of the Black Volta River at Dikpe, urging us all to act before more lives are lost, let this house remember the 7 students not just with words but with action.”

Hon. Bide A. Ziedieng stressed that the tragedy could have been prevented if the students had access to life jackets.

“Unfortunately, there were none," he said, calling on the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to take urgent steps to provide life jackets for Dikpe and other communities along the Black Volta River, where residents regularly rely on boats.

Hon. Bide A. Ziedieng extended his deepest and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. He also expressed sincere sympathy to the headmaster, staff, and student body of Lawra Senior High School, all of whom are struggling to come to terms with this devastating loss.

Per reports from the legislator, the students, all members of the school’s cadet group, had decided to jog along the riverside at Dikpe on Saturday morning.

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.

Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, is set to convene an urgent meeting with the Regional and District Directors of Education and the Headmaster of Lawra Senior High School following the death of seven students.

The Education Ministry has commiserated with the bereaved families as investigations continue.

"We share in the grief of the affected families and the entire school community. Our thoughts and prayers are with them in this extremely difficult time.

As the Ministry awaits a full report from the Ghana Police Service, we wish to assure Ghanaians that we will continue to do our best to ensure the safety and security of our students," a statement signed by the Deputy Education Minister Dr Clement Apaak read.

Parliament has summoned the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mubarak, and the Minister for Energy and Green Transition, John Jinapor, to answer questions on the lack of life jackets in communities that commute by water.

This is not the first time lives, especially those of students have been lost to drowning on the Black Volta.

In 2023, some eight students drowned in the Volta Lake in the Sene East District on their way to school.

This prompted calls on the government to provide life jackets to pupils and staff in island communities who commute by water.