Correspondence from Western Region

Residents of Navrongo and Twiakor Number Two in the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region are appealing to government as a matter of urgency to connect their communities to the national electricity grid.

Navrongo and Twiakor Number Two communities fall under Samenye-Azuleti electoral area and the residents there are mainly cocoa and rubber farmers.

These two communities have a population of about one thousand (1000).

For residents in these farming communities, their biggest headache is that since the construction of the Akosomho Dam in 1965, they have not seen electricity before.

Residents of these communities depend largely on lanterns and candles for their evening and night activities.

GhanaWeb through its Western Regional Correspondent gathered that majority of residents in the communities travel long distances before they could charge their mobile phones and other electrical gadgets.

It was also observed that some electricity poles which were brought to the communities in 2016, had been left to rot.

Some concerned residents who spoke to GhanaWeb, said, lack of electricity in the communities was affecting the academic performance of schoolchildren in the areas.

"Since the establishment of Akosomho Dam, we have not seen electricity in these areas, it’s like we are not part of Ghana. Somewhere in 2016, government brought electricity poles here with the assurance of giving us electricity but they have left electricity poles on the ground and the poles are spoiling," they emphasized.

"This situation is affecting the performance of our school children; they can't learn well during the night. We the parents are spending a lot of money to provide lanterns and torchlight for our children to learn,” they added.

They disclosed that "we have a CHPs Compound at Twiakor Number Two but because the community doesn't have electricity, nurses don't like to stay there, teachers too are not willing to accept postings in our communities and this is affecting badly.”

They, therefore, expressed worry over the high rate of teenage pregnancy in the communities which they say it’s a result of the high unemployment rate and the lack of electricity in the areas.

They took the opportunity to appeal to the government through the Ministry of Energy and their Member of Parliament to come to their aid by connecting their communities to the national electricity grid.

"We are appealing to government and our MP to come to support us, we need electricity badly, they should come to our aid as soon as possible and regard us as Ghanaians. Governance is continuous so we are expecting the NPP government to continue the abandoned electricity project here so that we can have electricity to do our businesses," they called.

"It is not easy for us to travel to Azuleti and Samenye to charge our phones, we are fed up, government should think about us because fetch the country with cocoa and rubber and we must benefit from the national cake", they added.

In her response, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro Constituency, Dorcas Afo-Toffey expressed her displeasure over the situation.

She revealed her efforts of pushing for the communities without electricity in his constituency to be connected to the national electricity grid.

She lamented over how the electricity poles which were brought to the communities by the NDC government in 2016 had been left at the mercy of the weather.

"In fact, when I went there myself to see the electricity poles on the ground, I wept, I don't see why in Ghana here successive governments find it difficult to continue projects started by previous governments, this is not helping this country to develop, as for me, I don't subscribe it that.

The NDC government brought the electricity poles to connect the Twiakor Number Two, Twiakor Number One, Bentelebo, Navrongo to the national grid in 2016 but unfortunately, NDC lost power and since then the project had been stalled, it is not good at all, the people in these communities are cocoa and rubber farmers and they deserve better,” she said.

She, therefore, seized the opportunity to re-appeal to the government to come to the assistance of her Constituents.

"I have written to the Ministry of Energy to return to these communities to continue with the project, in Jomoro here about 25 communities don't have electricity and I have informed the Energy Ministry so I will use your medium to appeal once again to the government to support these communities to get electricity," she pleaded.