Tongor Ahoe appeals for potable water

The chiefs and people of Tongor Ahoe in the South Dayi District of the Volta region have appealed to the Volta River Authority Resettlement Trust Fund (VRARTF) to provide them with potable water.

Mr Moses Sarbah, Spokesperson for the community, said for about 50 years, the people were without safe drinking water after they were resettled, with relatively high incidence of water-related diseases and called for support.

He said this at a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of a six-unit classroom block with ancillary facilities by the VRARTF and Pencils of Promise, an NGO with focus on education, at Tongor Ahoe.

Tongor Ahoe is among 52 re-settler communities of the Volta River Authority (VRA), which were resettled to pave way for construction of the Volta Lake, resulting in the submerging of 730 villages with about 80,000 people displaced.

The spokesperson said they trekked several kilometers daily in search of water, which was not affordable for all and called for intervention.

Mr Sarbah said they were promised to be resettled comfortably but more than five decades after the Lake was constructed, life continued to be unbearable to them.

He said landowners of where they were resettled allegedly refused to allow them to farm on large scale, claiming they were not paid compensations.

Mr Sarbah said though the VRA continued to support them, they needed more to be self reliant.

Mr Emmanuel Nana Antwi-Barimah, Board Chairman, VRARTF, assured the re-settlers of the continuous support of the Trust Fund, especially with social amenities.

The VRARTF was established in 1996 to among others to cater for the developmental needs of the 52 resettlement townships across four regions in the country.

The six-unit classroom block to be built at Tongor Ahor would replace a 37-year old dilapidated Tongor Ahoe Basic School.

The project, which is under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between VRARTF and Pencils of Pencil is estimated at GHC460, 000.00 and expected to be completed in six months.

Mr Freeman Gobah, Country Director, Pencils of Promise said under the five year MoU, his outfit would rehabilitate and build five schools at Asuogyaman, South Dayi, Fanteakwa, Yilo Krobo and Upper Manya Districts in the Volta and Eastern regions.

He said the partnership would promote and improve education in the resettlement areas.

The two parties also signed a GHC314, 000.00 MoU to rehabilitate the Nkwakubew schools in the Eastern region.