The people of Jonga, a community in the Wa Municipality have threatened not to vote in this year’s election if they do not get clear signals of authorities fixing the road that connects their community to Wa. They describe the potholes on the road as dams. They also recount numerous inconveniences that the poor state of the road caused them, ranging from miscarriages to people falling with motorbikes.
They said politicians only come and promise to fix it, but disappear after getting their votes. They hence declare that they are waiting for them to come again because they have taken a stance not to give them a listening ear. “We are waiting for them this time around to come. We have resolved not to vote this time around until we see some signs of work taking place on our road. We have been taken for granted for far too long.”
According to the residents of Jonga, the MCE, Hon Issahaku Tahiru Moomin and the Member of Parliament for the Wa central constituency, Hon. Dr. Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, are not oblivious of these challenges militating against their lives.
Aside the poor state of their road, the residents, also lamented about inadequate boreholes and lack of a dam in their community. Speaking to Info Newsonline at Jonga, the residents said their current population outweighs the number of boreholes available thereby putting undue pressure on the existing boreholes. According to them, this usually causes friction and long stays in queues of women at the point of fetching water which let to loss of productive time. They are therefore calling on city authorities to help them with more boreholes to ease up the pressure currently on their women. On the issue of lack of a dam, the people of Jonga, revealed that they normally lose their animals, especially, during dry season.
According to them, the MCE for the Wa municipal assembly, once promised to provide them with an irrigational dam. They are therefore calling on government through the MCE, Hon Issahaku Tahiru to provide them with a dam as promised. They recounted how they lose their animals to thirst every year because their only source of water for the animals during the dry season is too far. Besides the long distance of the water source for their animals, they are always asked to pay for the drinking of the animals. They however cannot understand why their MCE promised them a small dam but failed to return to fulfill his promise. They therefore call on authorities to provide them a dam even if it is a small one.