Regional News of Tuesday, 17 November 2020

Source: Daniel Kaku, Contributor

MP for Ellembelle connects seven communities to the national grid

Six communities in the Ellembelle Constituency have been connected to the national grid Six communities in the Ellembelle Constituency have been connected to the national grid

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle Constituency in the Western Region, Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah, has connected seven communities to the national electricity grid under the Rural Electrification Project (REP) to boost social and economic activities of the people.

The beneficiary communities include; Ewerekokrom, Boahenekrom, Kwasikrom, Adjeikrom, Aidosuazo, Muntakwa and Santaso.

The aforementioned communities located in the northern part of the Ellembelle District are predominantly cocoa-growing areas.

The Rural Electrification Project was started by Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah when he was the Energy Minister in 2016, but immediately the NDC government lost power, the contractor stopped the project.

However, earlier this year, Armah Kofi-Buah, had to go and search for the contractor and personally paid the expenses involved for the contractor to complete the project.

The seven beneficiary communities will be added to an existing eleven communities in the northern part of the Ellembelle District (Aiyinasi North) which had already been connected to the national grid by the lawmaker.

In all, sixteen communities in the Ellembelle North (Aiyinasi North) have had electricity through the instrumental leadership of Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah.

Speaking at a separate ceremony to commission the project, Mr. Kofi-Buah thanked God for protecting the contractors and offering them the opportunity to complete the project timely.

"We will thank God today Aidosuazo, Kwasikrom, Boahenekrom, Muntakwa, Santaso, Adjeikrom and Ewerekokrom are now having Electricity to do their things. I will thank the Chiefs and the people of these communities because it wasn't easy for the contractors, you supported the contractors."

"We thank God the contractors didn't get any injury, these contractors have suffered a lot because it was not easy to send electric poles to these areas because of the forest and even some people said that we can't do the work, they said the electric poles would rot but today we have electricity," he stated.

Expressing his excitement over the project, Armah Kofi-Buah who is the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for the area said: "We have finally connected these Communities to the national grid, it is a big deal and the credit goes to these hardworking young men who have spent men's hours in this forest just because they want Ghanaians in these areas who produce Cocoa for Ghana so basically to feel that they are proud of Ghana and to make sure they have access to Electricity."

He added: "Today, it is a dream come true because I believe that you who are hardworking cocoa producers have every right as every Ghanaian is having and we have not finished today we have brought them Akosombo, we are going to make sure we complete this road network and tar it..."

"We started this electricity project in 2016 and NDC lost power and the project was abandoned and because I think about my people this year I have to go and look for the contractor to pay all his expenses to come back and complete it, I have suffered a lot here, I first brought two contractors and they all couldn't do it and I have to bring a third contractor and I thank God our dream has come to pass", he emphasized.

Energy Conservation

The Former Energy Minister took the opportunity to advise the residents to make good use of the electricity brought to them for the first time since Akosombo Dam was established by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

He also advised the parents of the Communities to advise their children not to attempt to touch any electrical appliances that might cause a problem to them.

"Now that we have light here and we are celebrating, you need proper education on the usage of the light your electricity," he said.

He, therefore, appealed to his constituents to trust his leadership, and vote massively for him in the December polls.

According to the MP, other outstanding projects which have been pencilled down for execution in the Constituency would be tackled in his next administration after the December elections.


The residents who have been travelling to a far distance to charge their phones gave thanks to Emmanuel Armah Kofi-Buah for connecting them to the national grid.

"We are very happy, Hon. Armah Kofi-Buah has done well, God bless him because we never knew today you will see Electricity here, in fact, Hon. Armah Kofi-Buah loves us too much and we will continue to vote for him to represent us in Parliament, we will not vote for anybody apart from Armah Buah, the same Armah Kofi-Buah constructed road for us where there was no road here, Armah Kofi-Buah has built so many CHPS compounds here in the Aiyinasi North, today we can also drink pure water, today we can also watch TV, today we can also listen to the radio, today we can charge our phones, today we can do so many businesses with the light, God bless him a lot," said a resident.

On his part, the Odikro (Chief) of Aidosuazo, Nana John Aidoo expressed his gratitude and asked God to bless Armah Kofi-Buah for changing their lives.

"We have been in darkness for so many years but today Armah Kofi-Buah has brought electricity here, we thank him, may God bless him in all his endeavours as for us we are rallying behind him until he becomes President of Ghana," he said.

He concluded that "before today we have been travelling to far places to charge our phones but today we will not travel anymore. Today we can drink iced water, we can now preserve our fishes here, this electricity is a blessing for us and everybody here is happy, God bless Armah Kofi-Buah".

Mr. Amin Adams, the Foreman of Technology Management Group (TMG) who completed the project expressed his happiness over the completion of the project.

He admitted that when they started the project in 2016, they had to stop the work due to some circumstances but thanked Armah Buah for bringing them back to site to complete the project.

"We are happy today and we have to celebrate it together because it is not easy to connect electricity here because of the forest and the cocoa here but upon all these challenges today we have completed the project and I am very happy."

The Chief and people of Aidosuazo presented a fat ram and foodstuff to the Member of Parliament for the area for a good work done.