body-container-line-1
20.04.2015 Feature Article

Wa Is Becoming Attractive For Having Less Dum Sor

Wa Is Becoming Attractive For Having Less  Dum Sor
20.04.2015 LISTEN

As someone who hails from Wa in the Upper West Region and a follower of the culture and traditions of my people, I have no choice but to visit home periodically especially during funerals, marriages, naming and festive occasions.

As expected I jumped on one of the long buses of O. A. Travel and Tours from Accra for the funeral of a late brother of mine from the royal family of Wa. For the five days that I stayed in the large compound together with other visitors from Accra and other towns we did not experience power cuts except for an hour on a Friday.

A brief interview I conducted throughout the Wa municipality revealed that the entire township and surrounding villages in the region do not suffer epileptic power cuts for many hours as experienced in Accra and other big cities in the country. Indeed the inhabitants of Wa do not suffer from 'dum sor' for many hours thereby enjoying free flow of electric power in homes and work places including the small and medium enterprises.

Indeed agitations against the 'dum sor' by industrial set ups and households in Accra is to the people of Wa ugly noises. Don't blame them because they find themselves in a peculiar situation. As this is happening in Wa I am told that the other regions of the north are also experiencing improved power supply for many days on end.

The reason given by some people in privileged positions on the lack of frequent power cuts in Wa include low consumption of electricity in Wa and the Upper West region generally. This means that Wa and Upper West generally would be attractive to investors some of who have began trooping in already to establish schools, commercial and industrial set ups.

It is therefore advisable for government and the private sector to roll out a strategy to make decentralization meaningful by encouraging new and some established industries and commercial set ups to relocate to the regions from Greater Accra which seems to be choked. Apart from creating employment and setting up industries the free flow of electricity would boost production and productivity. The move will also halt the exodus of youth from the Wa area to the big cities such as Accra, Kumasi and Tema for greener pastures.

Apart from free flow of electricity, the inhabitants of the municipality depend more on motor cycles and bicycles than motor vehicles for their journeys in Wa and the region generally. Low consumption of fuel has led both men and women commuters on motor bikes in Wa to spend less cash on fuel in the region. However of late some wayward inhabitants of Wa have began harassing motor cycle riders snatching their motor bikes from them and sometimes killing some rudders in the process.

This has led to the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Alhassan paying a working visit to Wa where he teamed up with the political heads and traditional authorities to sanitize the municipality. Although hardened criminality which was unknown in Wa area reared its ugly head with some people spoken to attributing it to the help the criminals receive from some members of the police service.

It is the expectation of all well meaning people in Wa that the IGP will investigate this allegation and effect the transfer of all policemen involved to other parts of the country. If possible those found involved in criminal acts should be punished in accordance with the law. One good thing about Wa is that apart from some commercial centers in the municipality, Wa is a center of learning hosting a branch of University of Development Studies and other major establishments. Wa require more hostels and other housing facilities to house students and workers in the municipalities.

The Wa areas abounds of tourist attractions that include the Wa Na's palace and a market that attracts traders from far and near. As a result Wa receives many visitors who leave and arrive in the city in many buses, trucks and other vehicles. Due to the long routes being covered by the buses the OA Travel and tour and other commuters now provide security men on all the buses to ward off highway robbers who often attack the buses, robbing their occupants of their cash and other valuables.

While we accept this as a good move we expect the operators of the buses to update their operations by providing tourist guides on their buses to announce names of towns and tourist sites to travelers. This will help new travelers to know the name of the towns on the way to and from Wa and to also help those alighting on the way to alight safely at their destinations especially in the dark hours.

Executive Director
EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

0244 370345/ 0264370345/0208844791
[email protected]/[email protected]

body-container-line