By Kingsley Mamore
Wayo-Kope, July 22, GNA – Alliance for Civil Society Organization for Clean Energy Access (ACCESS), has engaged Wayo-Kope and Atigagorme, fishing communities along the Volta Lake in the Krachi West of the Oti Region.
The group, advocating for people living in poverty-stricken areas to have access to safe, reliable and affordable energy also advocates for environmentally sustainable and efficient energy systems.
The engagement was aimed at assessing the social, economic, and environmental impacts of mini grid projects.
The mini grid projects are designed to provide sustainable energy solutions to remote communities, but it is vital to verify their impact directly from those affected.
They also wanted to hear the communities’ stories to determine whether the projects are enhancing or adversely affecting their livelihoods.
The consultation brought together traditional leaders, women wings, youth groups, teachers, past and current Assembly member of Old Nkomi Electoral Area.
Ms. Priscilla Adogo Ahiada, Head of Energy Access programme at the Strategic Youth Network for Development (SYND), the West African Regional Node of ACCESS revealed to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, many people from Ada, and many places across the country migrated to the communities after they were connected to the minigrid, adding that, this had increased the load on the grid resulting in the current challenges.
Ms Adogo Ahiada, interacted with the community members on how the electricity power from the minigrid had transformed local natural resources such as firewood, water and how impactful the minigrid had improved educational system and healthcare delivery within the enclave.
At Wayo-Kope community, the residents said they were excited after the community was connected to the minigrid for the first time in decades.
The story was not different from Atigagorme, when the community lighted up since Independence, selling and buying including other job opportunities boomed for the first time.
This was short lived after the grid went down for some months.
The community people of Web-Kope expressed their frustrations during how darkness loomed the community once again leaving them to dangers in the community.
The story was the same in Atigagorme Community which had its grid going down from about three years as they shared that the darkness in the community brought in theft of the fish stock and snakes coming into their homes.
They also “shared how it affected their social lifestyles as they couldn’t visit their friends and family to watch television because when it’s dark, they can’t see the path leading them home.”
“We could not generate income for the past years now because many have overloaded gadgets on the minigrid, we are in darkness,” a resident of Atigagorme revealed.
“The children used to learn at night before going to school and I saw an improvement in my son’s learning but since the lights went off, he doesn’t want to learn at night,” a resident from Wayo-Korpe said.
Madam Nancy-Wayo, a resident of Wayo-Korpe,, who could not hide her frustration said that the situation was worrying and that authorities must fix all underlying issues to help stabilise the power supply.
Mr. Joseph Baako, another resident, lamented the situation and said it slowed down their businesses.
The chiefs and opinion leaders of the fishing communities, known among the fish baskets in between the two districts believe the intervention of the government and other organizations would help them to restore power to the grid for their daily activities.
GNA