Tamale Residents Go "Mad" Over Water Shortage

A seemingly unending water scarcity has hit the Northern Regional capital of  Tamale –and its environs, leading to stressful situations among many residents particular Muslims who are currently undergoing 30 days fasting. The Muslims who constitute a larger percentage of the population require water all the time to prepare certain special religious functions.

The situation which started some two weeks ago has taken a serious toll on residents of Jekarayili, Russia Bungalows, Kukuo, Ghanasco, Dabokpa, Vitting, Shillayili, Koblimahagu, SSNIT, Kalpohini, Changli and Dohanayili among others.

Some staff of Ghana Water Company limited are now taking advantage of the situation to sell water to most of the residents at exorbitant fees.  The water which is sold in water tankers is mainly drawn from the regional offices of the GWCL and also from one of their sub-stations popularly known as the water works.

At the moment, most parts of the metropolis are flooded with the yellow jelly cans also known as kufuor gallons especially at the various senior high schools.

Sources at the GWCL head office in Accra and Tamale told Savannahnews, that the water scarcity in most parts of the metropolis was as a result of a technical problem with one of the pumping machines at its head works at Dalun in the Kumbungu District.

A week ago frequent power outages in the central business district of the Tamale Metropolis angered an unknown group of youngsters to vandalise the offices of the Volta River Authority, generators of electricity to residents of the city.

Till now, no arrest has been made although the metropolitan security committee led by Abdul Hanan Gundadoo has placed a GH¢5,000.00 prize money on the heads of suspects or anyone behind the recent attacks at VRA. 

There are currently some passive impatience or anger being expressed by some affected residents who are allegedly threatening to storm the offices of the GWCL. The officers of the GWCL had not communicated or explained why shortage had emerged to the public until some customers of the company started making distress calls to the headquarters of the company.

At the time of filing this report, many businesses that depended on water were gradually grounding to a halt. Public servants, school children in basic and some senior high schools now spend more hours ‘hunting’ for water and go to school late.

Nasia Chief Expresses Disappointment At NADMO

Chief of Nasia

THE Chief of Nasia in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region, Mouzu-lana Dan Natogmah Abdulai has expressed his deepest disappointment at the NADMO and for that matter the government for “deliberately” abandoning the over 1,203 persons who were badly affected by rainstorm disaster in the area some two months ago.

Over 100 houses and several tonnes food stuffs stored in various homes were completely soaked by the rain and many currently live in hunger hanger and deprivation. 

The Chief of Nasia, who used his palace as a place of refuge for some of the victims when the disaster struck, told Savannahnews in an interview that, he was completely devastated by the plight of the people since all his attempts to get some little support from NADMO and government had hit a snag.

Even though Mouzu-lana Abdulai said he did not mean to compare issues, he did not understand why government and for that matter other corporate organizations would swiftly respond to the June 3^rd Flood and Fire Disaster victims without any proclivity to consider the over 1,203 rainstorm victims at Nasia which included pregnant women, under five babies and other extremely poor people.

He however proudly appreciated the effort of the District Chief Executive for West Mamprusi for rehabilitating the affected schools and the Member of Parliament for the area for providing 25 packets of roofing sheets to assist the victims.

Sadly enough, one of the most affected victims taking refuge at the Chiefs palace, Hajia Abiba Gariba, 86, who is also a widow had her 12 bed room house completely destroyed. Some residents in her neighbourhood tagged her as a “witch” for losing her husband and the house she inherited from the late husband. They tried to lynch her when the Chief intervened and brought her into his palace for refuge.

86 year old widow

Another victim, who is 91 years old Gahu-Naba Tia Banyesi told Savannahnews that the disaster had rendered him “insignificant” to his children and grandchildren, since all his lifetime investment had gone down the drain. According to him, his wives and children and the grandchildren were now living at separate places and he did not know their exact whereabouts.

The victims therefore appealed to government to come to their aid in order to bring back their families.

Mouzu-lana Abdulai also sent a strong SOS message to the government, NADMO, the Interior Minister and NGOs to come to the aid of the people. He said that most of the victims were farmers and they were supposed to have commenced their farming activities but none of them had been able to gather the resources and the courage to start farming. “Most of them have lost their fertilizers and seeds”.

The District Chief Executive for West Mamprusi, David Wuni said that he was confident that the NADMO would soon come to the aid of the victims. But in the meantime NADMO he said had told him they had run out of stock and could therefore not give any relief items to the victims.

Don’t Just Complain About Corruption, Report With Evidence –CHRAJ Boss

CHRAJ Boss

Ghana’s Acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Richard Quayson, has called for strong support of the media and the citizenry in fighting corruption, by providing evidence rather than mere complains.

He indicated that Ghana’s quest to nib corruption in the bud could not succeed if people continued to raise alarms without any impeccable evidence to back their assertions.

Emphasising how it rendered the appropriate anti-corruption agencies ineffective in pursuing such cases, Mr. Quayson charged Ghanaians to be bold and come forward with evidence wherever and whenever they saw an act of corruption being perpetuated by any individual or group of persons.

At a meeting with journalists in Tamale to sensitise them on the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), Mr. Quayson also appealed to citizens and the media in particular to stop associating suspected corrupt people with political colours.

According to him, the practice whereby persons accused of corruption were tagged for being members of a political party in power or in opposition, was not helping government and institutions of state such as CHRAJ, the police and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to do their work effectively and efficiently, since their political parties always tend to defend them by every means possible.

NACAP was developed in 2012 following intensive consultations at the national, regional and district levels. It was coordinated by a national working group comprising representatives from CHRAJ, office of the president, parliament, EOCO, National Development Planning Commission, Ghana Integrity Initiative and Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition among others.

NACAP is a national plan of action to combat corruption in Ghana in the next ten years. Its main purpose is to create a sustainable democratic society in Ghana, which is founded on good governance and imbued with high ethics and integrity.

NACAP is to build public capacity to condemn and fight corruption and make its practice a high-risk, low-gain activity; to institutionalise efficiency, accountability and transparency in the public, private and not-for profit sectors; to engage individuals, media and civil society organisations report and combat corruption; and to conduct effective investigations and prosecution of corrupt conduct.

Director of Anti-Corruption at CHRAJ, Charles Ayamdoo, said that the media must be bold in publishing information about corrupt officials and corruption cases. “The media must be prepared to “name and shame” without compromise. It is by exposing incidents of corruption that there will be an environment in which corruption is a high-risk and low-gain undertaking”, he noted. 

The media, he cautioned, should operate in an impartial manner and avoid sensationalising corruption cases. “Bias and sensationalism can undermine the ability of anti-corruption agencies to deal effectively with corruption”, Mr. Ayamdoo emphasised. 

The Director of Anti-Corruption also called on journalists to be properly trained in principles and techniques of investigating and reporting corruption cases and monitoring corruption trends and practices in the country.

Over 1000 Nasia Rainstorm Disaster Victims Yet To Receive Relief

PIECES of information gathered by Savannahnews in a follow up to our earlier story have revealed that the over 1, 203 persons who were badly hit by rainstorm disaster and got displaced at Nasia in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region, are still living under extreme conditions.

At the time of our visit, victims including pregnant women and children were yet to receive any form of support from the government and for that matter the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) two months after the disaster occurred.

This means the victims who unfortunately had their buildings and other valuable properties such as food stuffs destroyed by the rainstorm, would still have to endure their predicament a little longer. Very few of them were able to repair their houses but the majority resorted to sleep in the open.

The disaster which occurred in early May 2015 also affected a number of schools but the West Mamprusi District Assembly from its meager resources was able to refurbish all the schools to ensure teaching and learning continue. But the affected school children numbering over 482 do not have roofs over their heads after school.

When contacted, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for West Mamprusi, David Wuni, said the condition of the victims still remained the same except the rehabilitation of schools by the Assembly.  

 

An affected house                       Pix. by Zaa Radio

According to him, the Assembly had written to the District, Regional and National offices of NADMO as well as some non-governmental organisations for support, but none of them had come to the aid of the victims.

The DCE said that he was confident that the NADMO would soon come to the aid of the victims as and when they received relief items which they lacked at the moment.

Mr. Wuni still appealed to NADMO and various non-governmental organisations to consider the magnitude of the disaster and its associated ramification, and come to the aid of the people.

The District NADMO Coordinator, James Braimah described the disaster as overwhelming and appealed to philanthropists to come to the aid of the people. He said that his outfit was still hoping for positive response from the regional and the national offices for some relief items to be given to the victims.