Locals of Huntaado and Apatratom in Nyinahin District of the Ashanti Region have passionately appealed to Government to hooked their communities onto the national grid.
The residents indicated that all efforts to get the District Chief Executive Officer of the Nyinahin District Assembly to add their communities to the Rural Electrification Project being rolled out by the government have yielded no result.
“The absence of electricity makes things difficult for us to engage in any economic activities such as selling of refrigerated food such as like fresh fish and iced water to earn some income to help boost their living conditions.” Residents disclosed
Sharing their plight to the media, the locals stated that they have to trek many miles to the neighbouring towns to charge their phones.
“We have to sometimes travel kilometers away from our community to charge our phone , have access to electricity and to mill our grains to feed our families and also our wards are lagging behind because we don’t have access to electricity. “ Yesu Suani Kwabena Mathew stated
A pito brewer explained that she had to travel several kilometres to Akonkye, Manukrom or Bonkwaso town to mill her grains.
“I am a business woman, I brew pito to sell but how to mill the guinea corn to brew the pito is very difficult. I have to either go to Akonkye or Manukrom to mill, but those places are also very far from here and it’s is affecting my business”, she explained.
Mr. Owusu Cosmos, a Unit Committee Chairman at the area stated the lack of electricity is also having a toll on the education of their wards.
He stated their wards are unable to study as well as do their assignment at home in the night, saying it is retarding their academic performances as compared to their counterparts in other communities with electricity.
“Our children who attend Junior High School are not able to compete with their colleagues. When the teacher asks them to prepare for a test, those in Communities with access to electricity prepare very well but those at Huntaado and Apatratom at times cannot adequately prepare because there is no light here to learn”, Mr. Owusu Cosmos explained.
The Huntaado and the Apatratom communities, therefore, appeal to the Nyinahin District Assembly and the government to provide the community with electricity to help improve their livelihoods.
Huntaado and Apatratom communities have been earmarked by government to benefit from the Rural Electrification Project.
