Our taps must flow, we need water – Sokode residents charge

Residents of the Sokode Traditional Area in the Ho Municipality of the Volta region are calling on government to immediately address an acute water shortage crisis in the area.

According to the residents, their taps have stopped flowing for the past five months, a situation that is making life quite unbearable for them.

Addressing the press on Thursday, Assemblymember for the area, Mac-Billions Bansah Dickson lament that the situation has forced residents to depend on unhygienic sources of water for domestic use.

He said, “The good people of Sokode have been denied access to water which is a basic social amenity by the Ghana Water Company, thereby compelling residents to share water with animals and to depend on water from unhygienic sources such as streams, dams, well et cetera for their domestic use.”

“The situation has also been plunked with the financial burden on some residents who have to pay for tanker services or pay to fetch water from private mechanized borehole dealers at a high cost,” he added.

The Assemblyman further stated that the water problem apparently would have a dire consequence on the frequent washing of hands in line with the Covid-19 protocols.

Mr. Bansah appealed to government and the Ghana Water Company Ltd. to find a sustainable solution to the problem.

“We are therefore by this press statement, appealing again to Ghana Water Company and the central government to make the required investment and to address the situation to curtail daily sufferings of the people of Sokode Traditional Area.”

“We also want also add as a community that if GWCL in Ho knows this challenge is beyond them and needs central government’s intervention, then they should start speaking to the people in the helm of affairs and start proposing sustainable measures for this challenge to be addressed as soon as possible. Our taps must flow, we need water,” he added.

He further warned that residents may be forced to fall on other lawful means to have the issue addressed if GWCL fails.

“We are again by this statement calling on the necessary stakeholders to take steps to address this issue to ensure our taps run with clean water in the next two weeks, so we are not to compel to show our displeasure through other lawful means available to us as citizens of Ghana. Let our taps flow, enough is enough.”

The Sokode Traditional Area is a fast growing peri-urban community comprising of five communities which include Sokode Etoe, Sokode Gborgame, Sokode Lokoe, Sokode Bagble and Sokode Ando.

The area has an estimated population of over 40,000 residents.

For several years, the area has been connected to the National Water Supply system with a constant supply of water but for the past months is experiencing water shortage as the taps no longer flow.