Technical Advisor to the Vice President, Gideon Boako, has dismissed former President John Dramani Mahama’s claim that some dams under the government’s One Village One Dam initiative are not functioning.
Mr. Boako said it was unfortunate that the One Village One Dam initiative was being downplayed by the former President who had witnessed its benefits in various areas, including his constituency.
“It is really unfortunate that the former President talks about the dams the way he talks about it because, on Tuesday, we went to his own constituency and even in the Bole constituency you could see a lot of dams. It was only a matter of political expediency that the former President decided to cut a slur on the dams.”
He said contrary to the former President’s claim, the dams are either functional or at various stages of completion.
“If you go to all the regions we have visited, you will see dams with water in them. The dams are functioning. Of course, there are others that are at various stages of completion.”
NDC has consistently demanded a complete overhaul of the One Village One Dam initiative, urging the government to realign its funding to produce standard dams.
There are concerns that the implementation of the policy has been subpar.
Construction sites for government’s 1V1D now death traps – NDC MP
In 2019, the Member of Parliament for the Garu Constituency in the Upper East Region, Albert Akuka Alalzuuga said most construction sites under the government’s One Village One Dam initiative have become death traps.
Speaking to Citi News, the legislator said digging deep wells in the middle of the dams without warning signs was claiming the lives of humans and animals in some areas.
“They scoop a large area and dig something like a well inside. That water will become a death trap because most people are not aware that this is what the contractors have done there. When people come and see small water there, they will not know that it is deep and before you realize animals and human beings will be falling into it.”