The Okyenhene, Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin, was stopped from drinking water with animals through the hard work of former President John Dramani Mahama, an executive of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) claims.
Kwame Zu, who is the Ashanti Regional Secretary of the NDC, revealed that the respected chief competed with animals for water in various unsafe sources until the former President provided water for residents of Kyebi which is the hometown of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Addressing participants of a demonstration by the Coalition for National Sovereignty bemoaning the what he described as increasing hardship and refusal by the government to complete projects at various stages and questioning the commitment of the President in that respect when he has also refused to commission the ultra-modern Kejetia market.
“If this Kejetia edifice had been in Kyebi won’t Akufo-Addo open it for his people to use? What development has he brought to Asanteman…even his own hometown his people were competing for drinking water with animals, John Mahama had to provide potable water for his kinsmen. Until John Mahama provided water for him, Okyehene was drinking with animals.
It would be recalled that in October 2016, Paramount Chief of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area warned members of the then ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the government to desist from claiming that they have provided the residents of Kyebi with potable water.
According to the Okyenhene, it saddens him to hear the NDC activists campaigning on radio that it was President Mahama who provided water to Kyebi residents, stressing that “it’s not true.”
He stated that government upgraded and expanded the mechanical system but did not construct the entire water supply system.
“We have been having water for a long time,” he indicated.
The Kyebi Water Project was initiated by the previous Kufuor administration in June 2008 with funding from the Austrian government.
It was completed in 2011 under the NDC government, headed by President John Evans Atta Mills.
The delay in completing the project was as a result of the muddiness of the Birim River caused by illegal mining (galamsey) activities. It, therefore, became necessary for the project to be redesigned.
At the time of inaugurating the project, President Mahama said because River Birim had been heavily polluted, officials of the Ghana Water Company had to use excess chemicals to treat the Birim water before it became consumable, adding that his government funded the building of the water system.
