GH¢287.030 BAWKU WATER PROJECTS NEAR COMPLETION (Daily Graphic,Monday, October 27, 2008 PAGE 40)

WATER and sanitation projects for some communities in the Bawku Municipality in the Upper East Region are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The projects are estimated at GH¢287,030.
One of the projects, known as the Bazua Small Town Water System, has sanitation component, which includes the construction of five institutional latrines and 120 household latrines at Bazua in the Bawku Municipality. The project is being executed by China Henan Geo Construction.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Abdulai Abanga, announced this at the first ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the Bawku Municipality Assembly at Bawku.
He said Oxfam, a British non-governmental organisation (NGO), in collaboration with the Zuuri Organic Vegetable Farmers Association, had also constructed 13 hand-dug wells fitted with hand pumps for seven deprived communities in the Binduri area.
The beneficiary communities include Narang Song, Kumpalgogo Tebako and Komnatinga.
Others are Apomyamiri, Tansala and Zuuri.
"It is hoped that in the not too distant future, all communities without potable water will be provided with some as plans are underway under the President's priority projects," he added.
The MCE further stated that over the past one year, the assembly had spent GH¢917,689,64 on development projects.
Mr Abanga said even though peace and security were prerequisite for development, the municipality began the 2008 on a very bad note as a result of the Bawku communal conflict, which shattered the Assembly’s development aspirations by throwing the assembly's budget out of gear.
He noted that the communal violence that engulfed the municipality at the beginning of the year had brought a lot of hardships not only on the people of Bawku, but more especially on the assembly as it had to channel all its resources in restoring peace.
"While other districts have made judicious use of funds allocated to them by the central government to the benefit of society, our share of the funds and even those from other sources were used to maintain law and order to ensure that the integrity of the municipality is protected ," Mr Abanga said.
According to the MCE, a total of more than GH¢300,000 was spent to manage the turbulent situation in order to restore peace which is very vital for socio-economic.
He said despite all the initiatives at ensuring peace, a lot more depended on the people of Bawku to ensure that never again should they restore to violence.
"We must be peacemakers ourselves and bring peace back. We love and want peace but do not want to embrace it willingly.
Let us therefore try to bury the differences of yesterday, halt the problems of today
and move with the opportunities of tomorrow to bring Bawku back to its rightful place in the national sphere," Mr Abanga stressed.
The Presiding Member of the Assembly, John Agobre, descried the Bawku conflict as the darkest period in the municipality and hoped never again would such a thing happen there.