Regional News of Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-02-23Residents of Onsonyameye in Ellembelle cry for electricity
play videoResidents shared their frustration to GhanaWeb
Correspondence from Western Region
The residents of Onsonyameye in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region are appealing to the Ministry of Energy to connect the community to the national electricity grid.
Onsonyameye is one of the oldest communities in the Ellembelle District and has a population of over 900.
It is a farming community with residents growing mainly cocoa, rubber, coconut, cassava,
Read full article.yam, banana among others.
For residents here, their biggest headache is that more than 60 years after the construction of the Akosombo Dam, they are yet to see electricity.
A visit to the community by Daniel Kaku, GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent, showed that the residents depend largely on candles and lanterns for night activities.
The situation, our regional correspondent further gathered, compels the majority of them to walk a distance of about 10 kilometres to communities like Atababo and Kanokwari before accessing electricity.
The community was provided with a solar panel by the Akufo-Addo government in 2020 but the solar panel currently is dysfunctional.
Some residents who spoke to GhanaWeb expressed their displeasure over the situation.
They told GhanaWeb their community has not developed socio-economically over the years as a result of the absence of electricity.
They said lack of electricity in the community is affecting the academic performance of children in the area, because, after their house chores, it is already dark and if there is no torchlight or kerosene, the children are not able to do their homework or learn.
"Our children walk long distance to school and return in the evening without getting light to do their home work. No light to teach them at home, here is full of darkness that draw us back in life. We are in village and can not do anything without the light" one resident said.
They disclosed that the situation has affected the only clinic that serves the community and other surrounding communities in a way that drugs stored at the facility don't have the power to cool them.
They added that because of the situation, nurses have been refusing to stay in the community for a while.
"Even nurses have refused to stay here in our CHPS compound due to light so the light is a major problem for us so help us", a resident also stated.
According to them, "people living here have to charge their phones and electrical gadgets at Atababo and pay, in order to stay in contact with the rest of the world."
They are, therefore, appealing to the government to come to their aid by connecting their community to the national electricity grid.
"We are urging government to give our portion of the national cake for us to get light. We are all Ghanaians, we are urging government and its leadership most especially DCE and MP of the area to hear our plight and send our request to to Parliament for them to debate on it and help us", they appealed.
They took the opportunity to state emphatically that if the government fails to provide the community with electricity, they would not participate in the 2024 general elections.
