Accra, March 17, GNA - Alhaji Boniface Abubakur Saddique, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, on Monday proposed the setting up of Water Courts to prosecute people who illegally connect water for both domestic and commercial use.

He said his Ministry would link up with the Attorney General's Department to seek parliamentary approval for its establishment to speed up the legal process of handling illegal water connectors. Alhaji Saddique said this when he together with the managements of Ghana Water Company Limited and Aqua Vitens Rand Limited undertook a disconnection exercise at Sukura, Russia and Kaneshie in the Accra West District.

At Sukura the team re-disconnected a client whose line was disconnected one-and-a-half years ago but had been reconnected illegally by the owner.

There was drama at Zammrama Lane in Russia when a client who had undertaken an illegal connection refused to open his door. However, he suddenly sprang out of the room hitting a TV Africa reporter in the process.

Chief Haruna Maiga, Chief of the area, agreed with a call by the minister to set up a neighbourhood watchdog committee to monitor and report such inactions of community members. Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, Liaison Manager, Aqua Vitens Rand, said 50 per cent of water produced went into commercial losses since some citizens used the product without paying.

NSOC

Over 300 voters replace ID cards in Tema

Tema, March 17, GNA - Five out of the 59 voter identification replacement centres in the Tema Metropolis have replaced over 300 voters' ID cards that were either lost or defaced within four days of the replacement exercise. The exercise, which was opened on March 14, would last for 10 days and is solely aimed at replacing lost or damaged voters' ID card throughout the country.

Officials of the replacement centres told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a visit to the centres that the number was very encouraging. Mr Albert Mensah, Replacement Officer at the Community One Police Station Centre, said the centre which caters for four polling stations had replaced 110 residential and 25 non-residential voters' ID cards. Mr Mensah explained that voters who registered and reside in the electoral area formed the residential category while those residing outside the electoral area they registered at "fit into the non-residential category". The Oninku JHS centre which has 13 polling stations has as at 1100 hours recorded 62 residential lost Voters' ID cards with no non-residential, Mr Prosper Agbovi, Replacement Officer at the centre, said.

Mr Michael Oper-Kumi, Officer in charge of the Twedaase JHS centre, said the centre made up of six polling stations had so far handled 62 residential and four non-residential lost voters' ID card complains. The Aggrey Road number Two JHS centre had also replaced 76 residential and five non-residential lost and damaged cards. Alhaji Mohammed Zulykarinaini, Replacement Officer at the Mexico JHS centre, could not give the actual number of replacement but said the response was encouraging and that the centre has 13 polling stations. The replacement officials complained that the assigning of one official to a centre by the EC was not favourable especially when there are more than two people to attend to. Some of them also said most of the non-residential voters could not give the needed information especially the polling station number and name.

Mr Michael Boadu, Tema Metropolitan Electoral Officer, said the EC did not anticipate a large turn out for the exercise accounting for the assigning of one official to a centre. Mr Boadu rejected complains of low publicity and explained that information vans went round the metropolis to educate electorate on the replacement exercise. 17 March 08