The leadership of the Concerned Citizens of South Tongu has maintained that only a clear, verifiable resolution to the area’s severe water shortage will halt their upcoming mass protest, following a high-stakes emergency meeting at the District Assembly Hall. Despite Volta Regional Minister Hon. James Gunu issuing a strict three-week ultimatum to the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to fix failing pipelines and demanding an official rationing schedule to personally monitor supply, the citizen group’s secretariat has deferred the decision to suspend the demonstration to its broader membership, setting a tense countdown ahead of their Wednesday protest deadline.
The group forced the emergency stakeholder intervention after formally serving notice of their intention to take to the streets, prompting the Regional Minister to order the District Police Command to bring all parties to the table. The resulting meeting expanded to include local and regional management teams from GWCL, representatives from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) facing separate youth-led protests, district security chiefs, and South Tongu District Chief Executive, Hon Victoria Dzeklo.
During the deliberations, representatives from the Concerned Citizens of South Tongu laid bare the deep frustrations of local consumers, emphasizing that the consistent flow of clean water through existing pipelines is an immediate, non-negotiable requirement for households and local commerce. Group leadership noted that the acute nature of the shortage had reached a tipping point, driving the community to plan public demonstrations to draw necessary state attention to a failing distribution network.
In response to the citizens’ pressure, the DCE, Hon. Victoria Dzeklo, outlined the structural bottlenecks causing the supply deficit. She clarified that the expansion contractor, LEXICO, remains fully prepared to proceed with the critical infrastructure layout extending from Agordomi to Sogakofe, but requires the settlement of outstanding payments for work already completed before resuming operations.
The Regional Minister detailed the administrative interventions being pursued by the regional coordinating council to address these funding issues, noting that direct appeals to the presidency had previously resulted in directives to pay the contractor through the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS). The Minister committed to traveling to Accra next week to engage directly with the Ministry of Works, Housing, and Water Resources alongside the Chief Executive Officer of GWCL to break the financial deadlock.
Faced with unyielding demands from the demonstrator’s secretariat, the regional administration openly rejected defense arguments from GWCL officials, who attributed irregular supply schedules to operational challenges. To enforce transparency, the Regional Minister demanded an official copy of the company’s community water rationing plan to monitor compliance directly from his office in Ho, warning of administrative sanctions should local field checks contradict the scheduled distribution.
Specific technical directives issued as a direct result of the citizens’ grievances include a strict three-week deadline for GWCL to inspect and rectify pipeline failures on the stretch linking Dabala Junction through Agbakofe to Xikpo. The Regional Minister also committed to resolving an ongoing inter-agency dispute between GWCL and the Ghana Community Water and Sanitation Company, which has continuously halted water supply along the strategic Yorkutikpo–Dendo–Sasekofe–Avorvi–Korname line down to Agorkpo.
The session concluded with an official appeal from government authorities to the Concerned Citizens of South Tongu to suspend the upcoming street protests pending the outcome of the new timelines. Leadership for the citizen group maintained that the mandate to cancel or defer the action does not rest with them alone but with the broader organizing committee and the public, promising a formal response to the administration ahead of the scheduled Wednesday demonstration date.
Following the adjournment, the Regional Minister and technical directors departed for a physical inspection of the Agordomi Water Treatment Plant to assess the current capacity of the facility.
SRHR: Peter Dzorgbenyuie Junior Narteh-Agbeyome – Freelancer
