Eggu Assembly Member bemoans inadequacy of schools in his electoral area

Correspondence from Upper West

Comprising 24 communities, the Eggu electoral area is the largest in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region.

However, when it comes to the provision of social amenities, the electoral area is far lagging behind.

One of the main deficiencies of the area is the lack of basic educational facilities.

Out of these 24 communities, the place can only boast of 5 basic schools, with only three of them having Junior High Schools.

Assembly Member for the area, Hon. Dassah Y. Ephraim, in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb Monday, December 26, 2022, said:

"There're just 5 communities having basic schools out of all these 24 communities. And from these 5, two are just up to the primary level and only three of them have JHS. Charile, Eggu, as well as Kpila communities have basic schools up to JHS but those in Zang and Kuzie can boast of only primary schools. So definitely, pupils from these two communities would have to commute daily to attend JHS in very distant communities which sometimes discourage some to drop out of school. As a result, we're appealing for the building of more schools in the area to improve enrollment."

He added that because of the vast nature of the area, it makes administration of the place cumbersome indicating, he had written to the Electoral Commission of Ghana to consider dividing the area for easy management.

The Eggu electoral area, according to Hon. Dassah Y. Ephraim, is fraut with so many challenges including electricity, water, roads, health care, among others.

He revealed that out of the 24 communities under him, only one has been connected to the national grid leaving the others.

He noted there is even a community that had the electrical wiring passed through it but yet to be connected to the national grid.

The Honourable member also mentioned the lack of provision of potable drinking water in some of his communities compelling the people to patronise muddy polluted water from streams.

He furthered that even communities with a single borehole also still end up in such situation should the water facility serving them breaks down anytime.

"There're many communities with the challenge of potable drinking water. Even those with single boreholes have no option than resorting to the streams for water when the borehole happens to breakdown. We really need help in that respect too. Dakpilateng, Kanienbo, Kankanzie and Sanzie-Kori for instance, are some of the hardest hit when it comes to water issues," he intimated.

He again bemoaned the poor road network in the area and disclosed there is only one good road (Chariah-Eggu road) among all the 24 communities which he indicated is still even under construction.

"As for roads, the problem is a huge one. Out of the 24 communities in my electoral area, there's only one good road we can talk about. That's Chariah-Eggu road which is still under construction. Other than that, one can't point to any road in my area.

While appealing to the Wa West Assembly and NGOs to come to the aid of the people, Hon. Dassah recommends communities resort to self-help communal efforts to help themselves instead always relying on external help which may take ages to achieve.