WHEN was the last time you moved into a new house located in a new neighbourhood?
I guess you remember how pleased you felt having moved from an old building into a new one that is still awash with brightening paint colours, spacious rooms and a clean surrounding.
It is even much gratifying when you move from a noisy environment located in the heart of the city to a quite serene developing area, where you have the opportunity to experience the beauty of nature.
Each morning, the cockerel crows to wake you up and in the afternoons, the chirpings of the birds produces a lovely rhythm, which combined with the soothing air blown by the dancing tree branches, puts man to sleep.
However, this joy suddenly disappears when you realise that your new area is, after all, not as interesting as you thought. There is no light, no water or even accessible roads.
This is the situation that inhabitants of Bomahagu, Koblimahagu, and other new suburbs of Tamale find themselves. Their joy of moving into a new house and vicinity has been suppressed by the unavailability of electricity and water supply.
Each day, as I drive past one of the small paths in the area, I meet women and children sitting by a dug-out waiting for the water to gush out in drips so they could fetch.
Sometimes, they sit by the dug out throughout the night just waiting for some water to fetch home.
Some of the residents whose economic status is above average are able to rent tanker services, which is certainly costly and unsustainable.
“We are really suffering without water. During the dry season, we have to trek long distances to fetch water in gallons and this affects our children’s schooling and domestic chores,” Mma Abiba, a resident of Bomahagu lamented.
The darkness that hangs over Bomahagu and its surroundings between the hours of 6pm and 6am speaks volumes of the plight of the inhabitants in the absence of electricity.
They are denied the comfort of watching TV, ironing their clothes or charging their phones. In fact, the darkness in the area has made it difficult for the residents to drive away reptiles. Being a waterlogged area with less human population, snakes have found the area as a suitable habitat.
“Sometimes you come from work in the evening only to find a snake lying in your veranda,” Mr Rashid, a resident of the community, mentioned.
Aside the need for water and lights, the absence of roads is yet another key developmental challenge in Bomahagu and other new suburbs of Tamale.
The urban roads department has not opened up new roads in Bomahagu and thus residents in this area have to create pathways to facilitate the movement of both humans and automobiles.
Each year, the residents contribute money to purchase some gravel and fill in some of the pot holes on the pathway, but their efforts go in vain when the rains come in huge quantities, because the paths get flooded and tall grasses grow in every direction.
“At a point, I had to pack my car and walk through the mud anytime I was going to town or coming home,” stated Mr Rashid.
The question one is tempted then to ask is: what is being done to address these challenges?
Indeed, officials at the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) have repeatedly promised that Bomahagu, Koblimahagu, Taha, Kpanbiewu and many other peri-urban communities of Tamale would soon be connected to the national grid through the Rural Electrification Project.
However, there is yet no signal of the commencement of this project and the residents remain hopeless.
For water and roads, it appears there is no immediate plan by the TaMA to provide any of these to the people of Bomahagu and its surroundings as checks have revealed nothing substantial.
May be they are waiting for a public protest by the inhabitants before they see the need to expand these services to these people. Well, the people are waiting and their patience may run out soon.
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