Government concedes there are challenges with 1V1D – Afenyo-Markin

Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, says government concedes there are some challenges with its one-village, one-dam programme but committed to rectifying them.

Media reports surfaced recently suggesting work on some of the dams being constructed in parts of northern Ghana was substandard, triggering criticism against the government.

The National Democratic Congress, who was at the forefront of the criticism, described the programme as “deceptive” and that the government has shortchanged the people by constructing what they termed dugouts.

According to them, the contractors have been paid for substandard work.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his vice Vice Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia assured of investigations into the claims of substandard work, government issued a statement this week calling on Ghanaians to disregard such claims.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah in the statement described the claims as sheer propaganda and explained the Akufo-Addo government delivered exactly what it promised.

Commenting on the issue on TV3’s New Day, MP for Bongo, Edward Bawa, reiterated the position of the NDC, claiming “even the technical underpinning of the programme was very terrible”

But the Effutu MP maintained it is a matter of fact that government’s 1V1D is ongoing and that it is a fact that the dams will serve the purpose they are being built for.

He, however, admitted that that government acknowledges some challenges with the programme, but have shown commitment in resolving same.

According to him, the President’s assurance that investigations will be conducted is commitment enough to suggest the government is ready to make things work.

“It is not easy for a government to concede and order an investigation, so for a government to concede that there is a challenge so let us in all sincerity address them...we cannot pretend on the issues”, he said.