Odumase-Krobo: Residents drink from ‘dehumanizing muddy’ pond

Residents of Djerkiti, a rural community in the Lower Manya-Krobo municipality are angry with government over its failure to honour its promises to provide them with a good source of drinking water after the breakdown of their borehole for a number of years now.

This according to the residents, have forced them to rely on a small hand-dug pond as their only source of drinking water which is not only always muddy, contaminated and dehumanizing, but poses a serious health threat to their lives.

The chief and opinion leaders of the village said all appeals made to government through the municipal assembly and other political heads of the municipality to honour their promise to construct at least a bore hole or a well for them have all fallen on deaf ears.

This was made known by the Chief of the Village, Dadematse Moses Tetteh Padi, during a community durbar which was organized last Sunday to welcome Kloma Hengme, the Krobo advocacy and heritage association, which visited the village to embark on a number of developmental activities, and in the company of his elders took the leadership of the association to a tour of their source of drinking water.

Dadematse Moses Tetteh Padi said their continuous reliance on the unhygienic source of drinking water often results in frequent outbreak of cholera, strange skin rashes, dysentery and other water-borne diseases in the village. Speaking further, he said the unsafe water source often discourages teachers who are posted to the area to accept their postings, and added that the few who eventually honour their postings rely on bags of water sachets for cooking and drinking.

''Now teachers do not accept postings here. When they come and see our water source, they run away. Only a few of them [teachers] are here, but they bring water sachets they bought from Odumase or Otrokper for cooking and drinking purposes. Most of our classrooms are empty without teachers. Our school children are the worst losers here,'' he said.

The chief, on behalf of his elders and people, is therefore reminding government of their incessant appeals to them on the need to come to their aid. He has also extended his appeal to all corporate bodies, agencies and philanthropists to come to the aid of the community by providing them with a safe source of drinking water. The Chairman of the Kloma Hengme Association, Isaac Tamatey Otu, reacting over the water issue of the people of Djerkiti and their subsequent appeal made, lamented over the fact that the Krobo region hosts two important water treatment plants (at Kpong and Bukunor) and treated water is the most scarce commodity on Krobo soil.

''It still beats the imagination of many of us that the Krobo enclave hosts water treatments plants at Kpong and Bukunor and are served to the people of Accra, Koforidua, Nsawam and other places and we are dying out of thirst here. Something is definitely wrong somewhere''.

'I am therefore joining the people of the Djerkiti community to remind government to, as a matter of urgency, come to the aid of our people in Djerkiti here since they also deserve a part of the national cake, and am also appealing to all NGOs and corporate bodies to also come to the aid of our people'', he added.