This is not the time for ‘free water challenge’ – Oppong Nkrumah advises Ghanaians
Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has advised Ghanaians not to embark on ‘free water challenge’ after President Akufo-Addo announced that government will absorb water bill for April, May and June.
President Akufo-Addo yesterday announced that the government will absorb the water bills of all Ghanaians for the next 3 months.
This means that citizens will not pay water bills for April, May and June.
“The Ghana Water Company Ltd and the Electricity Company of Ghana have been directed to ensure the stable supply of water and electricity during this period. In addition, there will be no disconnection of supply. Furthermore, Government will absorb the water bills for all Ghanaians for the next three months, i.e. April, May and June. All water tankers, publicly and privately-owned, are also going to be mobilised to ensure the supply of water to all vulnerable communities.”
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The announcement was well-received by many Ghanaians as some on social media have indicated how often they will now use water for their daily activities.
Some have also raised concerns about the frequent flow of water before the said announcement.
One of the key issues raised is the government’s indebtedness to the Ghana Water Company which will affect the new policy directive.
But responding to the debt concerns, Oppong Nkrumah said the three months will be ring-fenced and handle in a manner that won’t affect the operations of the company.
“The 400 million cedis you are talking about is a liability that spans a certain period, beyond these three months that we are envisaging for the private citizen, the estimate of what the private citizen consumes is known to the system and has been factored into these calculations out of all these state interventions, 100 million dollars we are talking about so ordinarily, it should be possible to ring-fenced this one and deal with it separately without further burdening the legacy challenges that they have.
He further advised Ghanaians not to abuse the policy to embark on free water challenges.
“May I also say that this is not the time for people to be embarking on free water challenges and beginning to abuse what is available but within the basket of what has been budgeted for looking at trends…”
