Fact check: Akufo-Addo's claim of providing free water for all Ghanaians misleading
On Tuesday, March 9, 2021, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo delivered the State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament.
OUR MANIFESTO: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in
In his address to the nation, he made some claims about the government’s contribution to the provision of free water for Ghanaians.
YEN.com.gh with information gotten from Fact Check Ghana has verified this claim which happens to be misleading and presented the explanation below.
Source: UGC
Akufo-Addo claimed that the government provided free water to all Ghanaians and provided electricity for lifeline consumers and a fifty percent (50%) discount for all other customers.
According to information available to YEN.com.gh from Fact Check Ghana, this claim is quite misleading.
Akufo-Addo during his 14th Address to the Nation on COVID-19 in July 2020 made a similar claim.
Clearly, not all Ghanaians have access to potable drinking water or water supply through the main channels, through which the free water supply was provided.
Per the current Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS 7), the provision of water from government-controlled sources across the country is 64 percent.
The remaining 36% of households, according to the survey solely relied on water supply from NGOs, wells, rivers, streams, dugouts, etc.
Other people also relied on tankers, sachet, and bottled water which always comes at a fee.
Most of these sources mentioned above clearly did not benefit from the relief packages that government claimed to be providing for.
The GWCL announced that most of its customers who were already disconnected would not enjoy the free water package from the government.
The Ghana Statistical Service indicated in its Multiple Dimensional Poverty report published in June 2020 that its national censored headcount ratios identified about 17.8 per cent of Ghanaians who did not have access to water.
This, therefore, shows that the President’s claim of providing free water for “all households” is not entirely true but very misleading as per the facts of the matter presented and explained.
In other news, the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has announced that it will begin the spillage of excess water from the Weija Dam today, Tuesday, March 30, 2021.
According to the GWCL, it has become necessary to spill the excess water due to the sudden rise of the water level of the dam from 46.2 feet to 48.1 feet within a 24-hour period.
The GWCL also noted that the spillage is necessary as that will prevent the dam from a possible collapse.
Join YEN.com.gh's Telegram channel! Never miss important updates!
Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news!
Source: YEN.com.gh
