MP dissatisfied with Govt failure to address Sankana Community water crisis

ALFIX

2 years ago

The Member of Parliament for Nadowli/Kaleo Constituency in the Upper West Region, Hon Anthony Mwinkaara Sumah, has expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s failure to address the perennial water crisis in the Sankara Community within the Constituency

According to him, the water crisis in the Sankana community within the Nadowli/Kaleo constituency has exposed residents to untold hardship in sourcing potable water.

He decried how residents have to scramble with animals in rivers, streams and other unhygienic means to source untreated water for survival.

Hon Sumah made the call when she dragged the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources to parliament to answer questions as to what plans the Ministry has to provide the people of Sankara in the Nadowli/Kaleo District.

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources what plans the Ministry has to provide the people of Sankana in the Nadowli/Kaleo District with a water system to deal with the perennial water crisis in the community,” the MP questioned the Minister.

The water scarcity, he added is affecting families who relied on the untreated water sources thereby making life unbearable and urged the government to consider mechanized boreholes to reduce the situation.

In response, the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah said the Sankana community is currently supplied with potable water from eight functional boreholes fitted with hand pumps, but due to population growth, the boreholes are unable to meet the water demands of the community.

According to her, “the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) under the Ministry is undertaking feasibility studies for the construction of a small town pipe water system to improve potable water supply in the Sankana Community.”

She added that funds for the water supply project by the Small Town Pipe Water System would be sourced from development partners assson as the feasibility report is read.

But Hon Anthony Sumah expressed the dissatisfaction with the Minister’s response to the fact that government has been paying lip service for years and hope it would not be rhetoric.

He noted that residents now rely on unwholesome water from vendors despite its impurity and health risks, saying, some of the few available hand pumps are overstretched.

The MP bemoaned the fact that Children spend several school hours on queues to fetch water for their parents before going to school, stating, “my people are suffering, they are experiencing difficulties in accessing clean water.”

The right to water and sanitation has been a fundamental human right since 2010.

On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution making access to drinking water and sanitation a fundamental human right.