Vociferous radio presenter with Power 97.9 FM, Oheneba Boamah Bennie has asked the Akufo-Addo government to stop “making noise” about it’s One Village, One Dam (1V1D) project as if Ghanaians have never witnessed its kind before.
He says the erstwhile Mahama administration constructed similar dams under the auspices of the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) to support farmers in the then 3 regions of the north and other regions such as Volta, Western, and Greater Accra.
He made this known at Tema Community 8 in the Tema Central Constituency on Sunday when an NDC aspirant, Carl Owuompesika, had met delegates to interact with them.
Urging the NDC members to propagate the good works of the Mills-Mahama administration and work hard to recapture the Tema Central seat, Oheneba Boamah stated that the NDC worked hard while in power, adding that party supporters only needed to showcase to the world that NDC is a party that focuses on infrastructural development.
“What Akufo-Addo and his government are doing were all existing before they took over governance,” he said.
Making reference to the 2017 Budget, Oheneba, as he’s affectionately called, noted that the budget statement captured works the Mahama administration did under GIDA to support small holder farmers in some parts of the country.
The Budget statement and Economic Policy of the government of Ghana for the year 2017 that was presented to Parliament on Thursday,2nd March, 2019 by Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, confirm Oheneba’s argument.
Paragraph 351 of the Budget statement said, “The [Agric] Ministry continued its collaboration with Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) to rehabilitate dams and dugouts in three Northern Regions.In 2016, 112 dams and dugouts were completed, whilst 67 dams and dugouts are expected to be completed in 2017.”
Based on this Oheneba asked said the Akufo-Addo government can’t tell Ghanaians it is the NPP government that is building dams for irrigation purposes.
“The 1Village 1 Dam is not anything new. Before Mahama left power, 112 dams had been completed, so how come you are surprised Akufo-Addo is doing same. He just changed the name and took the responsibility from Ghana Irrigation Development Authority and gave it to a minister. They’re making so much noise yet they haven’t enough dams like the NDC government did,” he added.
To him, the NPP government hasn’t done much but are only renaming existing projects to deceive Ghanaians.
“Akufo-Addo is very good at renaming…he changed Fertilizer Sug mentisation programme to Planting for food and jobs; he renamed the existing West African Agriculture Programme and it’s now known as Rearing for foods and jobs…If Akufo-Addo sees you today and meets you tomorrow he will change your name,” he stated.