NDC MP wants those behind 1-village, 1-‘pond’ prosecuted

Member of Parliament for Bongo Constituency Edward Abambire Bawa says officials responsible for the ‘One-Village, One-Dam’ policy must be prosecuted for throwing dust in the eyes of northerners.

Mr Bawa stressed that the policy has become “an opportunity to siphon money especially at the expense of the ordinary Ghanaian”.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP was sharing his sentiments on TV3’s New Day on Tuesday.

He was speaking in reaction to government’s response to the Minority’s concern about the policy.

In a statement over the weekend, the Minority described the dams as mere dugouts and substandard.

But the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, stated: “The model and specification of dams requested for under this programme are the exact type known to the people in the beneficiary communities.”

Mr Bawa said the government ignored all technical advice on dams suitable for the environmental conditions in the north.

He consequently sent an open and audacious invitation to colleague MP Alexander Afenyo-Markin to visit Bongo in the Upper East Region to ascertain the kind of projects under construction for himself.

“In a very serious democracy, people should be moving to court by now,” the NDC MP called out.

“People should be prosecuted.”

But Mr Afenyo-Markin, who was also on the programme, contested the allegation that no technical advice was sought.

“There is no such evidence and in fact it is not factual that government has ignored technical advice.”

He, however, admitted that there are challenges with the dams being constructed.

He said there has not been any wrongdoing on the part of any official to warrant prosecution and that it is the NDC which should have prosecuted all those sacked for mismanagement under the erstwhile Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).