One Village One Dam is mine – Mahama

Former President John Mahama has made an astonishing claim that it was during his tenure that the One Village One Dam (1V1D) initiative – that is being vigorously pursued by the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government – originated.

Mr. Mahama claimed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government he led constructed 120 dugouts before it left office in 2016. However, he does not appear to indicate where some of the dams are located.

The former president, who is currently on a campaign tour of the newly created Savannah Region, threw shades at President Akufo-Addo and his administration that the dams being constructed are inferior, suggesting the government is wasting taxpayers’ money.

“Their dams are even of inferior quality because when it rains, the dams are breaking and the water is flowing away,” he claimed.

He said cynically that the rains had exposed what he called NPP’s lies since all the dams they (NPP) claimed to have built had been washed away by the rains.

“Always remember that when you deceive people, the reality catches up with you. By God’s grace, the NPP came to power and they have started building what they call dams. It turns out that the dams they were talking of are the same dugouts that we were digging under the John Mahama administration,” he said.

He remarked that the time had come for the people to choose what he called ‘truth’ over ‘lies’ and said the NPP were noted for telling ‘lies’ to win power.

1V1D Initiative

The construction of small dams and dugouts across communities of the three northern regions is the main project under the 1V1D initiative which was a major manifesto promise of then opposition NPP prior to the 2016 general election which it won massively.

The initiative was designed to provide all-year availability of water for smallholder farmers in communities, particularly in the three northern regions (now five), and it was anticipated that it would improve productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers significantly and bring about improvements in rural livelihoods as well as ensure food security, and curtail migration from the north to the south in search of jobs during the off-farm season by the youth of those areas.

Upon assumption of office, the Ministry of Special Development Initiative (MSDI), in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), specifically the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), commenced the implementation of the 1V1D and a total of 570 sites were identified for the construction and rehabilitation of small dams and dugouts.

Promises Galore

The former president then switched into ‘promising’ mode, telling the people of Gbiniyiri in the Sawla Tuna District that when he wins the 2020 presidential election, he will connect them to the national grid, improve a CHPS compound and open the road to the community.

He also said at Busunu that his government in 2021 would build one of the community day senior high schools for them.

In his hometown in Bole, he accused the NPP government of deliberately stalling work on the Bole Nursing Training College and several other projects and called on the people to bank their hopes in him to ‘deliver’ them after 2020.

He also called for peace in the area saying “let’s choose peace amongst other things because that is the only way we can develop.”

Just before he embarked on the tour, he was in Accra condemning the government over the revocation of licences of some insolvent banks and other savings and loans companies by the central bank, saying it was not necessary. He added that the government had taken a chaotic path in the handling of the issue.