Damongo: Stop supplying contaminated water to residents - NDC activist

A National Democratic Congress (NDC) Activist and a Resident of Damongo the capital of Savannah region, Mr Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese has voiced his displeasure and disappointment over what he terms as the supply of contaminated Water by the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Damongo Constituency Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor to his constituents.

Mr Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese in an open letter to the Damongo MP, copied to Bole-based Nkilgi Fm stated that he deems the water situation as a civic responsibility as a resident of Damongo to draw Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor’s attention to issues that are of utmost concern to his constituents, including those in NPP who can only hide and whisper but cannot speak up in public.

According to Issifu Seidu Kudus, he is highlighting the water crisis situation in Damongo constituency because it is a common concern to all who reside in the Constituency.

Parts of his letter stated; “Hon. Abu Jinapor, may I remind you that in your quest to become the MP of Damongo, during which period you were the Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of operations at the Presidency, you made very juicy promises to the constituents just as your government did. Indeed, you promised to paint Damongo with ‘gold’. You did everything to buy our consciences and everything power could do including intimidations and abuse of office to secure the mandate of becoming the MP. Well, you won and nobody can fault you for some of the ‘dirty tactics’ you adopted for the simple reason that in politics foul is fair and fair is foul.”

Mr. Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese added; You’ve been in office for the past three years however, you have practically reneged on the very core promises you made including delivering the Damongo Water project as expected and presented to us in July 2020″.

He further sais; “Before the deception clothed in sod-cutting on the 29th of July, 2020, President Akuffo-Addo, Vice President Dr Bawumia and you, had cause to make different promises in respect of the Water Project to the good people of Damongo on different platforms and in most cases at the instance of the Yagbonwura Tuntumba Boresa.”

He further disclosed that, in 2018, Vice President Bawumia, at the forecourt of the Jakpa palace, made people to believe that his NPP government had secured about $49m to execute the Damongo water project and that in the very year he was making that claim, the project was going to kick start. Fast forward in 2019 or so, President Akuffo-Addo himself made the same promise to the Yagbonwura amidst applause. Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese also stated that as a stop-gap measure, 10 mechanized boreholes were going to be drilled in Damongo Township while working to deliver the water project.

According to Mr. Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese, the number of times the MP for Damongo repeated the same promise on different platforms can’t be counted.

He further indicated; “On that fateful 29th July, 2020, a sod-cutting ceremony was colorfully organized at the Damongo town park and on the platform, your submissions sounded as though water had started flowing down our taps and in our homes because I remember the slogan “promise made, promise fulfilled”, which was boldly printed on the flyer and repeated by you on that platform.

Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese disclosed that; “We were told the project was going to take 18 months to be delivered. What happened thereafter?”

He said forward in 2023, three years after that scam of a sod-cutting ceremony without even a single pipe laid.

He said; “Hon. Samuel Jinapor, in his supposed magnanimity, secured a water tanker to supply us water. Guess what! The water tanker draws water from an abandoned Dam (Damongo Agric Dam) to supply our helpless mothers for domestic use”.

He stated; “For God sake, that water is highly contaminated and I sincerely don’t think Hon. Abu Jinapor will allow for his beautiful flowers at his residence to be watered with his contaminated water he distributes to our mothers for domestic use. Even this, we are told to applaud him.”

He further disclosed that, other private water sellers, out of their sensitivity and empathy, source their water from mechanized boreholes they personally drilled for onward sale to the people of Damongo Constituency.

Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese asked; “The question is, between the private water dealers who have no ordained obligation to provide public goods such as water to the people of Damongo and Hon. Abu Jinapor, who has been voted for on the account of delivering basic necessities like water, who should be sensitive to the plight of the helpless constituents? How come to the private water sellers source their water from mechanized boreholes, while our rich MP only resorts to a typhoid infested dam water, and as a result of this singular act of sourcing contaminated water from the abandoned dam to supply us, the cases of typhoid fever have multiplied in Damongo and its environs. And because of the MPs influence, resources and the power to mute and buy off popular voices within the constituency, Hon Samuel Abu Jinapor feels he has a field day to do as he please, after all nobody challenges his authority”.

Mr Issifu Seidu Kudus Gbeadese said; “The Ministry you head, Lands and Natural Resources, has very resourceful public agencies including the Minerals Commission, Forestry Commission, Lands Commission, among others. Each of these agencies can undertake the drilling and mechanization of boreholes in large scales just in a year without any substantial financial implications. To top it all, your ministry oversees the giant mining companies including Newmont Ghana, Anglogold Ashanti, ect. Each of these mining companies have embedded social-corporate responsibilities as part of their contract, among which is to provide basic amenities like water”.

He said; “Even if you feel the statutory funds allocated to you as an MP are meant for parties and not to provide public goods, why can’t you charge any of these agencies or companies to take up this responsibility in your stead? We would have appreciated and still give you the credit anyway. Available information has it that, one needs just about GHC 25,000 to GHC 30,000 to drill and mechanize a borehole”.

He said; “Meanwhile we are told by some of your kitchen cabinet members that you spend about GHC 100,000 to organize just one party. Just this Christmas period, you have organized at least two different parties plus other entertainment programs. The amount spent on these parties could get us about 6 or 7 mechanized boreholes from which you can draw the water for our mothers. Is this too much to ask?”.