Akoviefe community seeks support for mechanised borehole

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has set up a seven-member team to help the Akoviefe community in the Ho West District to address challenges of access to potable water.

One of the two non-mechanised boreholes serving the community had broken down, while the other had dried up due to lack of rainfall.

Community members said they are forced to walk long distances to surrounding communities, and hilltops for water, a situation that is affecting students.

Community members, at a social auditing forum organised by the NCCE, collectively chose the water challenge as their topmost priority and committed to helping realise the about GHC5,000 needed to mechanise the functioning borehole.

Togbega Adza Osei VI, the Paramount Chief of Akoviefe Traditional Area, and the head of the Committee said small communities were denied government and media contact and left to suffer lack of basic facilities.

He said the social auditing programme would help identify and alleviate some of the challenges, and called for more resources to enable the NCCE to deliver.

Mr Oral Robert Amenyo, the Deputy Regional Director of the NCCE, who swore in the Committee, said through the social auditing initiative, communities were able to execute their projects.

He said the initiative helped fast-tracked development by prioritising community needs and was, therefore, helping to complement the government’s support.

The Director said social auditing also helped communities win the support of NGOs and corporate organisations, and appealed to the youth to take the initiative seriously, as their support was key to its success.

Mr Dodji Adjei, the District Director of the NCCE, said citizens must show concern for developmental projects, and to solve their challenges.

He said the NCCE would help communities to lobby district assemblies and other stakeholders for support.

Prosper Yao Aheto, the Assembly Member for Dzolo Electoral Area, told the forum that electricity meters were last distributed in the community in the 1980s and that households were billed for electricity consumption through one metering device.

He said most households could not access power from the national grid due to the high cost of meters and appealed for a price reduction.

The Assembly member said also among the community’s priorities was furniture for a newly completed classroom block for its basic school, and the renovation of the old structure to serve the growing student population.

The committee members include the Assembly Member, a Unit Committee Member, and a representative of the women.

The NCCE social auditing programme is part of the European Union-funded Accountability Rule of Law and Anti-corruption Programme (ARAP), being undertaken in selected communities.