Rural folks dig for water as gov't fails on promises

Residents of Tabiase in the Tafiama- Issa-Bussie District of the Upper West Region have taken a bold decision to open dugouts for water to quench their thirst as their continuous reliance on government for portable water proves to be yielding no result.

The two out of three boreholes in the community have broken down while their dam is also dried up making it difficult for residents and animals to have water in the community.

TV3's Upper West Regional Correspondent, Yakubu Abdul-Gafur says he spotted a group of young men numbering about fifty digging close to a dam at Tabiase in the Diafiama-Issa-Busie District.

Abdul-Gafur says he thought of two possibilities after seeing such a huge number of people under a very scorching sun digging.

"I thought the men were either searching for water or waiting to bury a dead relative, but my earlier thought was confirmed by passer-bys who said the men were digging earnestly in search of water albeit unclean," said Abdul-Gafur.

When the men were approached, they asked the reporter to visit their dam site to see the water women were fetching for domestic use.

When TV3 News got to the area close to the dam, a little girl was found in a dugout fetching the nearly dry and unclean water while some women stood by with their basins waiting for their turn.

Animals in the area only get to drink from rainwater. People who wash their clothes had to use another pond which is also unclean.

Some of the women who spoke to TV3 said they go through extreme difficulties to access the unclean water.

Amina Karim said “Two of our boreholes have broken down and if we don’t open more dugouts, we will not get water; even our animals we don’t know how to get them water if it does not rain now. We wake up at dawn to queue here for water but not all of us get some,” she lamented.

Ausatu Baule also lamented, “In this community, it is difficult to get water. The whole place is dried up and we are suffering, we are appealing to the government to come to our aid, if not, we will not vote again.”

The residents in a committed effort to deal with the challenge at hand, have set rules for themselves so that every man in the community joins in the efforts to dig for water.

The community, with a population of about Three thousand five hundred, divided into seven areas, have thus created a communal labour schedule for each area as they rotate the digging amongst themselves.

Men who fail to work when is the turn of their groups are to pay a fine of 10 cedis. The residents have also set up a committee that has a chairman and a secretary to manage the digging activities.

Issahaku Osman, a resident, told TV3 they are hopeful that as long as they dig, they will find water in a few days.

Chairman for the water project in the community, Osman Haruna, said the community has contributed money that would be used to repair the broken down boreholes.