Water is vital to human life. Unfortunately however, it will continue to be a scarce commodity in some districts in the Upper East Region due to the kind of politics some public officials play.
In spite of the tremendous efforts past and present governments as well as non- governmental organizations have made in drilling as many boreholes as possible in various communities, some government officials will rather be indifferent to the plight of their electorate and will scramble for votes instead of seeing their development.
These officials prefer to deny their electorate from having access to basic social amenities such as potable water to allowing their political opponents to provide such wants of the electorate.
Less than two weeks to the 2020 general election, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Builsa South who doubles as the Parliamentary Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Daniel Kwame Gariba, and the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Dr. Clement Apaak of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), have somewhat taken the game of politics to the height where electorates in the constituency have been denied their share of the national cake.
Electorate in communities such as Batusia in Fumbisi, Nyandema in Doninga, Jeningsa Yepala in Kanjarga, Lusia Goluk in Kanjarga, Pentengsa in Fumbisi, Zeng in Gbedema, and others for years have been struggling for potable water.
But interacting with the incumbent MP for the area, Dr. Apaak regarding the struggles these residents usually go-through in search of potable water, he claimed, he has made numerous efforts to use part of his common fund to address the residents’ predicament, but always gets blocked by his opponent, the DCE.
Dr. Apaak noted that the DCE was sabotaging his projects as he (DCE) has failed to approve his common fund letters that seek to provide potable water for these desirable community members.
He maintained that since the beginning of 2020 the DCE has never approved any of his common fund letters requesting to undertake desirable projects in the constituency; because he said, such projects would be seen as adding up to his achievements as MP for the area.
According to him, on the 4 of September 2020, he (Dr. Apaak) wrote a letter to the Assembly requesting approval Ghc180, 000.00 of his common fund to drill ten (10) boreholes for constituents. Despite hints suggesting that the DCE had received the said letter in time, he (the DCE) failed to approve it.
The MP noted again that on November 3, 2020, he submitted a letter dated October 30th, 2020 to the Assembly asking for Ghc200, 000.00 to be released from his common fund to support 200 needy but brilliant students in tertiary institutions but again, the DCE failed to approve.
These claims by the MP, though, have gained the trust of many electorates especially those from the affected communities, the DCE, Daniel Kwame Gariba has described the accusations as lies and a set agenda to seek public sympathy as he (DCE) has better chances of gaining votes over Dr. Apaak.
According to him, he has never received a letter(s) of such from the MP and dared him (MP) to bring those letters to his (DCE) house if he (MP) thinks that the assembly was not to be trusted.
He noted that since he received his appointment as DCE, he has been facilitating with the MP and has never failed to approve his (MP) letter(s).
Mr. Gariba further added that water is vital to life and will never put the electorate’s quest for potable water into disrepute hence was disappointed to hear such accusations from his opponent the MP; stating that he has been able to drill 102 boreholes across the constituency so.
“Why will I refuse to approve a letter from the MP to drill just 10 boreholes?” He retorted.
Politics is about development and Builsa South district was carved out of the then Builsa District on the 7th of June 2012 with the purpose to device development evenly as well as improve the livelihood of the people, but with these political mafia tactics being played; will the purpose be achieved?
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Moses Apiah|Ghana
