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 some islanders jubilating when a team of journalists and other officials arrived on the island
some islanders jubilating when a team of journalists and other officials arrived on the island

Dzatakey—paradise or prison?

A remote island community is looking for a new place of abode because it has no clinic, school, potable water or electricity.

“You could bury a body out here and totally get away with it.” It is probably true, I thought as we wound our way through a section of the 1,600km serpentine waters of the Volta Lake in the Krachi West District.

It had already been an adventure getting here, 12 hours from Accra through Ketekrachi to Aglakope, involving a ferry and boat crossing, but what a journey it had been!
We were here to inaugurate a mini-grid renewable electricity project for one of the difficult-to-reach island communities of Ghana.

Different world

Exquisitely beautiful, with white sandy coves, canopy of trees and the occasional noise from birds, the place is as far removed from the 21st century style of civilisation as you can get without actually being desolate.

A technician installing a prepaid meter in one of the island communities
A technician installing a prepaid meter in one of the island communities

Apart from not having basic amenities, it also does not have a recreational centre. The nearest you will get to a fast food joint is Ketekrachi by special appointment with a canoe fisherman who visits the island twice every week.

There is no police force and the last crime in living memory, I was told, was in the 60s, when a fisherman stole two bottles of palm wine.
Post office and mobile network? Forget it! However if you have a letter to send, you can drop it into a box in the chief's hut, who will ensure it is on the next canoe to the mainland.

In complete darkness

Inside her mud and brick hut in the village of ‘Dzatakey’, Soyokor Nartey is making a pot of banku for dinner in darkness.

The glow of a candle and the flame from a firewood are the only sources of light for the woman who is in her 60s.

Her village, with a population of over 1,000, has no electricity; it has never had any.

"I have never seen an electric bulb," she said as she squatted on the floor, wiping sweat off her face. “The village I was born in had no electricity. I moved here after my marriage and there was none here either," she told me.

Dzatakey is just one of the 52 island communities in the Krachi West District which are not connected to the country's power grid.

One of the island communities without electricity
One of the island communities without electricity

For many like Soyokor Nartey, it is a reality they have come to accept. Most of them rely on kerosene lamps and candles as sources of light for their homes.

Sixty years after independence, it is estimated that more than 15 per cent of Ghana’s 27 million people do not have access to electricity.

'Nice and bright'

However just five kilometres away, in the neighbouring village of Adakope, it is a completely different picture.

Nene Emmanuel Volivo, a fisherman, lives inside a hut, almost identical to that of Soyokor, bathed in the white glow of a solar lamp.

An electric fan is next to him, also powered by solar energy.

"Akpena Mawu," exclaimed 58-year-old Volivo as he excitedly pulled out a black and white TV that lay buried under a heap of clothes and paper in a trunk. After all, it was time to finally switch it on.

 A renewable mini-grid electricity system under construction in one of the communities
A renewable mini-grid electricity system under construction in one of the communities

The TV had not been used for years since Volivo’s son, who lives in a city, had discarded it as there was no electricity in the village.

Down the hill was a chapel where the village pastor was praying loudly, reciting the story of Jesus restoring the sight of a blind man.

In November this year, Adakope finally became one of hundreds of villages across the country that were provided with electricity for the first time since independence.

The Deputy Minister of Energy, Mr William Owuraku-Aidoo, referred to this renewable electrification drive as the first of its kind in Ghana at the function where he unveiled a plaque to inaugurate the mini-grid renewable electricity for five island communities.

The project

The project, with a generation capacity of 200 kilowatts, was funded by the World Bank at a cost of $2.5 million under the Ghana Energy Development Access Project (GEDAP).

It will provide a 24-hour electricity service to a total population of 6,500 in the five communities.

According to the Project Manager of GEDAP, Ing. Seth Mahu Agbeve, the system was designed to provide services similar to that of the national grid.

A young boy trying to fetch water from the canoe to prevent it from sinking while on our way to the island
A young boy trying to fetch water from the canoe to prevent it from sinking while on our way to the island

He stated that very intelligent power units were deployed on the network such that one could stay at home and receive signals on the meter, telling him or her to consume more power and pay less at a given time. That unique aspect, he said, could not be found on the national grid.

The project manager indicated that instead of using submarine transmission line to connect the island communities to the national grid, which could cost the government $11 million per every 5km, renewables were used to provide the same service at a far cheaper cost.

“Knowing how remote the places are, we are using ICT to address faults and other technical challenges by picking signals from Accra without our physical presence at the generation source,” he stated.

The District Chief Executive of Krachi West, Mr Douglas Osei Nti, lauded the World Bank for their support and advised the residents not to tamper with the facility, but rather report faults on the plants to the appropriate authorities.

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