Residents of Adubrim climb trees, hills to access cellular network

Correspondence from Western Region

The Chiefs and people of Adubrim and its surrounding communities in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region, have complained about the absence of a functioning telecommunication network.

The situation which has made communication problematic according to them, has also made it difficult for nurses and teachers for instance to accept postings to the area.

The affected communities are; Ayawola, Mpaesem, Pebulu, Bonsosuazo, Kutukrom, Ngabaywie, Hanasuazo among others.

These communities are endowed with cash crops such as cocoa, rubber, coconut, plantain, yam, cassava among others, which has the potential to fast-track development, but the lack of good communication network is the disincentive to development partners.

Several appeals have been made to successive governments to help them solve the situation but their appeals have been mostly ignored.

With the advent of Coronavirus and the need for the internet mostly for students to study, they are again calling for help, this time, from telecommunication operators in the country.

The Chiefs and people, who revealed this to GhanaWeb's Western Regional Correspondent during a visit to the area on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, said aggrieved residents in the area and its surrounding areas have to climb trees, sometimes hills, before getting access to stable network to be able to make calls and access information on the internet.

Speaking to the immediate past Assembly Member for Adubrim Electoral Area, Augustine Nwanye Yeboah, he disclosed that the Chiefs and his people had taken countless steps to get the Electoral Area help with provision of good network but nothing positive was achieved.

"This time, you cannot do anything without a network and it became a burden on me when I was the Assembly Member. The Chiefs and I took so many steps to get the community a network but we didn't get any positive results and we are still fighting", he said.

He said the lack of the telecommunication network has brought so many challenges to the about 6,000 residents in Adubrim and surrounding communities.

"This network has brought so many challenges to us, one of it is, if we are here and there is an outbreak of disaster, even the place to stand to get a stable network and call NADMO, becomes a problem and before we will get network to call them or we take call on the district capital then everything has destroyed", he bemoaned.

"We have schools here, we have CHPS compound, we have so many catchment areas surrounding Adubrim and these areas do not have access to network and it has been a big problem for us. he added.

"So we are appealing to government and network operators to come to assist us with network. Because of the problem of network when you bring a teacher here, that teacher can only stay here for at least one year, nurses are refusing to be posted here, if they come they don't stay for long"

"It is retarding our development, we have about 6,000 people here and its catchment areas and we don't have network so they should help us", he emphasized.

He said the situation was affecting their children's education in this era of Coronavirus pandemic.

According to him, their school children cannot access information on the internet due to the lack of the network.

On his part, the Chief of Adubrim, Nana Assuah Meah III stressed that the situation was disturbing the activities of the area.

"In fact the network is giving us so many problems and before we will make calls unless we walk for so about 15 minutes to climb a hill and even it is not easy to get the signal on the hill or unless you climb a tree before you can get the signal to make the call and if it happens in the night you can’t go because you will be afraid", he stated.

A farmer who spoke to our Correspondent lamented that their children cannot learn well because they do not have good network services.

"Now that they have said we should stay at home, we do not do anything, our children are at home. We

are weeping, government bring us network, bring us network and if you don't bring us network we will suffer"

"Our children don't learn, they are at home because they don't get network to learn and if we get network it will help us a lot...", she emphasized.

She, therefore, made the appeal to government and telecommunication companies, to as a matter of urgency, extend their services to the area to pave way for development and improve upon the social and economic well-being of the people.

It is believed that if Adubrim Electoral Area gets telecommunication network it will create employment for the youth through mobile-money businesses and through the sale of mobile credits among other things.