The Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Joseph Kofi Adda is on a collision course with officials of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), denying reports of water rationing in parts of Ghana.
GWCL began rationing water late January in most parts of the country as a result of the dry season, environmental degradation and pollution of water bodies by illegal miners. The company said those activities had derailed its efforts at extracting enough water for treatment, accounting for the inadequate supply of water to consumers.
The Head of Communications at the GWCL, Mr Stanley Martey, told Starr News that with the exception of the Eastern and the Ashanti regions, all the regions had been affected by the rationing, with the Western Region being the worst affected.
“We are only able to utilise about 40 per cent of the capacity of the treatment plant in the Western Region because the water level in the River Pra, one of the sources of water supply, is very low,” he said.
However, speaking on Morning Starr with Francis Abban on Wednesday, February 07, 2018, Mr. Adda rubbished Martey’s assertions, revealing the spokesperson is being investigated for making those unofficial comments.
“I’m not aware of water rationing,” the former MP for Navrongo Central stated.
According to him, the head of communications of GWCL announced the rationing programme without recourse to management.
“My investigation at Ghana Water says they are not aware. The board is not aware and they have not carried it out to me. It’s something that the PRO said on his own without any consultation with the technical directorate. I’ve instituted investigation into it,” the former Energy Minister emphasised.
Mr. Adda stressed areas suffering water shortages may be due to local fault and must not be misconstrued as a national crisis.
“There could be a problem in the network of the area. It’s not rationing,” the Minister averred.
The rationing has been ongoing for the past two weeks, prompting Parliament to summon management of the Ghana Water Company to answer questions over it.
Mr. Martey is on record to have said that a timetable will soon be provided to guide consumers as to when they will get water.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
