Mention was made of A1 radio’s Joshua Asaah and his news documentary headlined “Thirsty dams of the north: The shoddy works done under government’s One Village One Dam (1V1D) project in Upper East Region.”; to drum home the need to Collaborate with journalists in exposing acts that sabotage government.
Former Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Professor Kwame Karikari has referred to the reaction of government officials to the news documentary produced by Mr. Asaah, on the deficiencies of the ongoing construction of dams across the many villages in the Northern Regions of Ghana; saying government and its appointees should appreciate such works and building on the revelations to correct the flaws.
Professor Karikari made these observations during an interview with JoyNews, monitored by a1radioonline.com, where he shared his thoughts on the current state of press freedom in the country.
He lamented over the continuous attempts by government appointees targeted at victimizing persons and organizations who uncovered the shortcomings of implementing entities entrusted with the execution of government’s projects.
“…when a journalist in a radio station in Bolgatanga, investigates and find out that this brilliant idea, this most important project, that goes to the heart of promoting agriculture in the arid north, this thing that we believe Akufo-Addo is so sincere about, the people who are constructing it are cutting corners, so at the end of the day, they are subverting, they are undermining, they are sabotaging Akufo-Addo’s maiden major project in agriculture and when a journalist is exposing this, government should be happy” he asserted.
Describing such actions as a threat to President Akufo-Addo’s vision for the country, Professor Karikari said if a contractor is found to have poorly executed a project, Instead of going after the alleged “crook contractors” for poor execution of duties, government appointees and communicators of the governing party hound them and tend to deny the apparent existence of the shoddy work done.
“The implementation of the 1 Village 1 Dam policy in the Upper East Region was meant to provide sources of water, mainly for farming and for animals to drink. Unfortunately, it appears that the policy which could be providing jobs to many unemployed youth is becoming a fiasco in the region.” Mr. Asaah observed in his news documentary.
The documentary, in detail, catalogued some serious concerns of residents of the beneficiary communities who were optimistic that a new dam in their area will promote dry season farming; but got disappointed after seeing what was constructed for them as dams.
Source; a1radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Ghana|
