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• The Pusiga DCE, Mr Alhassan Abugbila (with calabash), fetching water to drink at Nakambo when he and some staff members of the assembly inaugurated a borehole for the community.

Assembly embarks on development drive

The Pusiga District Assembly in the Upper East Region has fulfilled promises it made last year to connect a number of communities in the district to the national electricity grid.

The District Chief Executive, Mr Alhassan Abugbila, who made this known, said the assembly was able to undertake the task following an ambitious rural electrification programme it undertook.  

At the First Ordinary Meeting of the district assembly that was held last year, the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Alhassan Abugbila, announced that the government intended to extend electricity to 13 communities in the district.

At the moment, there are contractors working on site connecting the 13 beneficiary communities to the national grid. The communities include Deega-Sarabugu, Bitu,Dablugo,Gbewaa-Natinga,Kayinchingo,Latega,Mandago -College-Bengula and Nakom-Nkinikogo-Latega.The rest are Piakolo,Terago,Yariga and Zong-Natinga.

It is envisaged that providing electricity in the district would promote the establishment of cottage industries and would as well encourage workers to accept postings to the area.   

Mr Abugbila said the rural electrification programme was being executed in phases, adding that other communities that are not included in the present phase of electrification would be connected in due course. 

Water

The assembly, in addition, has expanded the coverage of potable water in the district, a development inhabitants in the district are very happy about.

The Community Water and Sanitation Agency, in collaboration with the district assembly, has embarked on an intensive project to provide potable water to residents of Pusiga. 

More than 25 boreholes have so far been drilled, each of which cost GH¢13,000. 

At Nakambo, a community of about 600 people who are predominantly farmers, an elder, Mr Akayuri Abugri, was full of joy when the DCE visited to inaugurate a borehole in the village.  

According to him, the people had previously relied on unsafe sources for their water needs. He said because of that they battled with cholera and other water-borne diseases. 

Meanwhile, a community water and sanitation management team has been established in the village to help manage the facility effectively.

Also at Gundaana,a border community of about 10,000 people, a small town water supply system is being constructed for the people.

The facility is estimated to cost GH¢1,000,000 and includes the provision of ten 5-seater institutional latrines estimated at GH¢300,000.

For the people of Gudaana, the project is significant as it would help make the stay of  officers of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and the Ghana Immigration Service very comfortable.

Sanitation

In the area of sanitation, the assembly has rehabilitated the Pusiga Meat Shop and has also put up a slaughterhouse with three slaughter slabs at Kulungugu, Pusiga and Widaana. A Kraal for livestock is also being constructed. All the projects are being executed with funding from  the District Development Facility (DDF).                    

Health

In pursuance of good health for the people, the assembly has donated an ambulance to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) directorate in the district to facilitate its activities. 

Additionally, a Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound, furnished with a borehole, has been built at Bulugu under the assembly’s DDF facility.

Moreover, the assembly is supporting the GHS in the discharge of the GHS’s assignments with regard to polio vaccination and efforts to control malaria.

Education

On education, the assembly has renovated an abandoned building at Pusiga that belonged to the Ghana Education Service (GES) and also constructed two staff bungalows for staff of the GES.

Furthermore, it provided 360 dual desks for basic schools in the district.

In its effort to eliminate schools under trees, the assembly has put up five,six,three and two-unit classroom blocks with ancillary facilities in Pusiga with funding from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND).                                    

Challenges

All these notwithstanding, the DCE admits that office and staff accommodation was a challenge the assembly was facing and so it was constructing an office complex.

Additionally, he said the Pulmakom,Kulungugu and Pusiga roads also needed to be improved to enhance business activities in the area.

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