The chief, and people of Banongoma, a farming community in the Wa East District, have expressed disappointment about the virtual neglect of the development needs of the community by the district leadership. They said the community was challenged with difficulty in accessing potable water, difficulty in accessing basic education, poor road network and electricity among others but their incessant plea with the leaders of the district to come to their aid had fallen on deaf ears. Talking about electricity, Naa Nasiru Gbaazu, the chief of the community said the lack of electricity in the community is affecting the academic performance of the children because they were unable to study at night and those that had to brace the odds to study at night had to do that with torchlights. He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the current Member of Parliament for the Wa East Constituency, Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw, had promised during his campaign in 2020 to help connect the community to the national grid. He, however, said they had not seen any sign of getting electricity in the community three years after he won the election. ‘We are still living in darkness, our children cannot study at night, and we must travel about 5km to Baayiri to charge our mobile phones. Some people have been coming here claiming they are coming to assess the number of electricity poles that are needed for the community. The last time they came here was in February this year but since then we have not heard from them again and we have not seen a single pole here’, Naa Gbaazu, lamented. Mr Amadu Seidu, the Tendaana (Landlord) of the Banongoma community, said he could not understand why they were left out in the electricity distribution in the electoral area though the high-tension wires passed through the community to other communities. ‘During elections, the politicians come and say we should vote for them, and we also tell them our needs. ‘We assist the District Assembly to collect cattle rates, but we are not getting any benefit from it. Our plea is that if they will not give us electricity, they should rehabilitate our road for us because the District Chief Executive also uses this road,’ he explained. Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, a resident of the community, lamented the challenges and expenses women had to endure to access a corn mill at Kperisi community about 12km away from the Banongoma community. Meanwhile, Dr. Jasaw told the GNA that he had written to the Energy Ministry indicating the 56 communities in Wa East Constituency that were still not connected to the national grid. He indicated that the Ministry of Energy had given the assurance that the identified communities would be connected subject to the availability of resources.
Source: Ghana News Agency