By Michael Kofi Kenetey
Residents of the Agortime-Krobom community and its environs, a suburb of New-Tafo in the Abuakwa North Municipality of the Eastern Region, have voiced their displeasure at being in darkness for the past seven years while their houses have been wired.
According to them, the rural electrification project in the area was awarded to David and Sons Company Limited, which had been completed over two years, and now the powering of the transformer for the people to have access to electricity has become an issue.
They expressed the sentiment when GBC’s Eastern Regional Correspondent, Michael Kenetey, visited the town to assess and ascertain the situation.
Agortime-Krobom is a farming community which is over two kilometres away from New-Tafo in the Abuakwa North Municipality of the Eastern Region and has a population of more than three hundred.
The people in the community and its environs are predominantly cocoa farmers. They also produce cassava, plantains, bananas, yams, and vegetables, among others.
Meanwhile, the community is confronted with various challenges such as poor road network, lack of potable water, absence of a health centre, and school facilities, with the absence of electricity in the area serving as their major challenge.
In an interview with the community members, they noted that the Abuakwa North Municipal Chief Executive, Alhaji Omar Babs Bodinga, and MP for the constituency, Gifty Twum Ampofo, have captured it in their reports that they have provided the community with electricity, yet they have had no access to electricity in the area for more than two years.
The leader of the Community, James Narh, said:
“The community members mentioned that the absence of electricity in the area is affecting their economic activities and the performance of their children in school since the children cannot learn at night.”
Speaking to the Assemblyman of Tafo-Nobi Bayera Electoral Area, Emmanuel Narh, he explained that after the completion of the project, the Energy Commission came to assess the transformer for it to be powered before it was revealed that the capacity of the transformer was higher than the capacity required by the area.