News:
November 7, 2019
Member of Parliament for Garu, Albert Alalzuuga Akuka has said the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government has deceived Ghanaians in the three Northern Regions with its one village one dam (1v1d) policy.
“I know the value of dams to the people in the Northern Regions, we have a very long dry season period, as an opposition MP when government talked about 1v1d, I was happy about it, I told myself if government can implement this project very well it would be good for us, what I am seeing is disappointing, we just have death traps all over the place”.
He noted in an interview with journalists in parliament after Minister for Special Development, Hawa Koomson answered a question on the floor of the House, and added that, he visited the sites but what he saw was just an eyesore.
“As a former District Chief Executive of the area, I dug small earth dams I did not make noise about them they are still in use, this one they claim they had provided for two hundred and fifty thousand cedis per dam. A standard dam would not cost that much, rather they should link up with Irrigation Development Authority to be able to do a proper survey that can determine where water can be collected to have a kind of dam we are looking for”.
The former DCE noted that when the Minister was answering questions on the cost per small earth dam, she talked about the topography of the area determines the price, and the average is two hundred and fifty thousand Ghana cedis.
“Didn’t the NPP talked about 1v1d in the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections? They have just done something to represent something. The Minister said the Small Earth Dams are at various state of completion, but the contractors said they have finished when I visited”.
Again, all the ten small earth dams she talked about if you place them together and had done one which could stand the test of time would have been the best, one good dam could help us with water through the dry season for two to three years, he added.
“I am a politician but we should not do politics with this dam issue, this is not the kind of dams we were looking forward to”.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com