Correspondence from the Western Region

Residents of Obayeboe, a farming community in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region, are calling on government to connect their community to the national electricity grid.

Obayeboe, a farming community is located on Aiyinasi-Kanokwari road and since the establishment of Akosomho Dam, the community is yet to see electricity.

The community has at least 600 residents.

Residents at Obayeboe depend largely on torchlights and candles for evening and night activities, our Western Regional Correspondent observed during his visit to the community.

The situation, he observed compels majority of residents to travel to Nyamebekyere and Aiyinasi to charge their mobile phones and chargeable torchlights.

It was revealed to our correspondent how the situation was affecting schoolchildren's academic performance in the area.

GhanaWeb Western Regional correspondent observed that surrounding communities of Obayeboe community had been connected to the national electricity grid.

Communities such as Aiyinasi, Odo Ye, Nyamebekyere, Sendu, Kanokwari and Atababo have electricity meanwhile Obayeboe is in between Aiyinasi and Nyamebekyere.

Speaking to some residents in an exclusive interview, they said because there was no electricity in the area, it was very difficult for their community to develop in all sectors.

"Our main problem we are facing is electricity because there is electricity at Nyamebekyere up to Atababo and you pass our community first before reaching Nyamebekyere.

"From Obayeboe to Nyamebekyere is just a half-kilometer distance but Nyamebekyere has electricity and our community does not have electricity", a resident called Edward Oppong said.

He added, "we have church here, we have school here and because there is no electricity here, our children perform badly in school, their performance is not good at all. The schoolchildren need electricity badly to learn. They depend largely on torchlights and it is not easy to buy torchlights nowadays".

He, therefore, beseeched government of Ghana through Energy Ministry to come to their aid urgently.

Madam Christiana Siah also expressed her displeasure over the situation.



She said, "We need light in this community, from here to Nyamebekyere is just a short distance but we don't have light. We cannot see and hear what is happening in Ghana through TV. Are we not part of Ghana?"

"Our children academic performance is in limbo, they can't study in the evening, when you go to cities, children over there use laptops to study but our children here don't have any access", she worried.

"So we are begging the government to help us so that we can be part of Ghanaians. There is a small community after us over there called Odo Ye, they have electricity.

"We are appealing to government to provide us with electricity, we need electricity urgently because we also vote during public elections. They should have mercy on us because we are also human beings", she pleaded.

A man of God in the area, Elder Patrick Kwofie emphasized that, "This community is no longer a village, it is expanding. School is here, so many people are here but we are suffering a lot. Our children here do not learn at all in the evening. We have been buying torchlights and batteries for so many years and we are even tired. We are begging the government".

A schoolgirl who spoke to GhanaWeb, appealed to government to consider her community by connecting the community to the electricity national grid so that their academic performance could be improved.

"I don't have electricity to study in the evening. Whenever they give me homework I find it very difficult to do it. All of us here do not have light to learn

So we are begging the president to provide us with electricity to study. My mother has bought torchlights and batteries for so many years and she is even tired of buying them. I'm future I want to be a doctor so I'm begging the president to extend electricity here", she appealed.