Promises, Lies and Bad Jokes: Of the Tono and Vea Irrigation Dams and Their Still-Born Relative, the Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Dam
Dear Nyaaba,
In a world where power is the ultimate currency, politicians have mastered the art of deception, weaving elaborate tapestries of false promises and empty rhetoric. They stand on their platforms, eyes gleaming with feigned sincerity, and deliver speeches laced with hope and change, while concealing the true motives that lurk beneath. Their words, crafted to manipulate and mislead, betray the trust of those who dare to believe in a better future.
These political puppeteers thrive on the naivety of their constituents, employing lies as their primary tool to secure votes and maintain control. This article, the first in a series, delves into the pervasive deceit that has come to define modern politics, exposing the hollow pledges and cynical strategies that politicians use to entrench their power at the expense of the very people they claim to serve.
One of the most grandiose promises that was made to Ghanaians by the present government was the Pwalugu Multi-purpose Dam. It is my understanding that apart from the pomp and pageantry that marked the sod-cutting, there is nothing else to show for it. Recently, the MP for Navrongo, during the sitting of some committee, asked about a certain payment that was allegedly made in respect of said project. I do not now recall the answer, if there was any, but suffice it to say that one will be woefully willful if they were to think that some proper answer or explanation will be given for said expenditure. The same promise has managed an entry into the campaign list of the Vice-President turned Presidential candidate. I will not bother asking why the eight years during which he served as no. 2 man was not enough to put a dam into his own region and why does he think he can hoodwink us into believing he can execute the project.
Nyaaba, I would rather spend my energies on asking a few questions, questions that we should have been asking all along, if you ask me. For those of you who do not know, there are two bug dams in the Upper East Region, surely not of the size envisaged for the Pwalugu Multi-purpose dam but big. There is one in Bolgatanga called the VEA IRRIGATION DAM and another in Navrongo called the TONO IRRIGATION DAM. In my lifetime I have witnessed these two dams support the production of large quantities of top-grade organic tomatoes. If anyone needs confirmation of that, they are free to refer to the Geography Text Book which was co-authored by and came to be referred to as Benneh & Dickson. Farmers who relied solely on these two dams produced enough for Ghana and for export and there was even a lot left, sadly, to rot.
The two dams are now in grave need of uplifting and if that is properly done, we may not actually need the promised dam, but what do I know.
Nyaaba, now my question; what was the thinking behind the proposed project? Was it to increased irrigation-fed arable lands? If so, could not they have revamped the two dams and extended the network of canals? If not, what was their plan such that it could not be achieved on the existing infrastructure? Or maybe it was just political propaganda, of the sort that is employed to seduce desperate and often uncritical constituents?
Talking of curious projects, I recall JM commissioned a Tomato Cannery or some such facility, in Tema, or was it the Free-Zones Area. I was scandalized for I grew up knowing the Pwalugu Tomato factory sited conveniently in a large acreage of fertile river bank, which I was told was still capable of being revitalized, yet here we were siting a factory in a place which cannot boast of even an acre of tomato farm and would rely on tomatoes transported cross-country from Burkina Faso because we do not produce tomato in enough quantities to feed said facility.
Nyaaba, from curious, I now take you to the outright bizarre. Joining the fray in seeking our votes is a young man high on braggadocio, he promises to extend the sea half=way up the country to Kumasi. At first I was tempted to dismiss it as comic relief, but then I got to worrying, because there were young people dreamily asserting that if Kwame Nkrumah had not been a dreamer, we would not have the Akosombo Dam today.
Nyaaba, make of it all what you may.
The Honourrebel Siriguboy
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