One Village, One Dam, Too Huge To Achieve In Four Years – Agric Minister

Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has declared that the Akufo-Addo Government’s “One Village, One Dam” policy has not yet been attained, saying the policy is an expensive venture that will require time and patience to come to fruitage.

“A lot of these policies you don’t expect instant results. You know in the savannah areas on the north, the rainfall is only three to four months in the year. So the rest of the years for seven-eight months, people are only sitting down doing nothing. That’s the essence of the irrigation,” Dr. Akoto was speaking on the sidelines of government’s Town Hall and Results Fair to showcase investments made in the area of infrastructure three and a half years after taking office.

Incidentally, long before the Agric Minister would admit that the ‘1D1F’ policy has not yet achieved fruits, his colleague Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah had claimed as far back as 2019 that ‘1d1f’ had been completed and was serving villages.

“Currently, three hundred (300) dams are under construction. Four (4) out of the three hundred (300) dams, representing 1.3%, are the only ones to have recorded challenges. 

“About 99% of the projects are proceeding without incident. Some of the projects have already started serving the beneficiary communities well. Seventy (70) of the dams in the Upper East Region will be available for use before the peak of the rainy season. The remaining dams are expected to be completed after the rainy season” Mr. Oppong Nkrumah had told Daily Graphic on June 9, 2019.

Now it is not clear who to trust between the government’s official spokesman and Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, as it emerged that the supposed dams were only dugouts exaggerated for dams. 

Approximately 90% of the dams were not fit for purpose, with some being washed away by rains.

In June this year, a research conducted by the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana revealed that about 90% of dams constructed under government’s 1V1D initiative in the Upper East Region, cannot be used for irrigation purposes.

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has served notice that when it returns to power, Minister for Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson will be prosecuted for causing financial loss to the State.

In March this year, the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi addressed a press conference from dried up 1V1D sites at Adibo and Nakpachei both in the Yendi Constituency.

“…we wish to sound a strong caution to the likes of Madam Hawa Koomson and others, that they stand as good candidates for prosecution for the offence of wilfully causing financial loss to the state when power changes hands,” Sammy Gyamfi warned.