Savannah: Banpewa Chief Laments Over Electricity Project Abandoned For 14 Years

The chief of Banpewa Community in the Bole district of Savannah Region is unhappy over an electricity project in the the area which has been abandoned for about 14 years. Naa Agbaa Jaaga III at Dubar to launch planting of trees by Plant for the Planet Ghana said he cannot fathom why a project that the state has spent a lot of

money on can be abandoned since 2008. Banpewa is one of five communities that were also considered for electricity under the rural electrification project by the then John Agyekum Kufuor administration. The project began in 2007 and by 2008, some of the communities were wired. Community members were asked to wire

their houses to qualify for metering and after that, two communities also got meters, but they were also never connected to the national power grid too. The excited community members at the time also protected the electricity poles in their communities and also those used to extend the wires from Bamboi from bush fires

every year. Following several failed assurances from authorities to connect the communities to the national grid, the communities say they can no longer protect the poles. When the media also visited the Banpewa Community, some of the electricity poles were in very bad shape, while other cables and property had been

left at the mercy of the weather. Mr Dompeh David, the Assembly Member for the area, told said members of the intended beneficiary communities are frustrated. As you can see, these wires and poles have been mounted since the President Kufuor’s era, but when successive governments took over, they also promised that they will come and connect it but we aren't seeing anything.

Every year the communities will mobilize themselves and weed around all the poles so that they will not get burnt from bush fires. And because they are not seeing lights, they are fed up, and it’s also becoming difficult for them to continue. Chief of Banpewa, Naa Dr Agbaa Jaaga III, at an event to launch the planting of trees in the community, pleaded with the government to also come to the aid of the community and connect it to the national grid.