Poor, vulnerable demand pipe water to fight COVID pandemic

Tamale, Dec 05- Some poor, vulnerable, and marginalised persons have appealed to the government to extend pipe-borne water to their communities to enable them to stay clean and healthy, as well as protected in the event of any pandemic in the future.

They said access to pipe-borne water would also empower them to religiously adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols especially hand washing.

They made the appeal at a town hall meeting in Tamale on social protection in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting was organised by SEND GHANA, a civil society organisation, with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund, and participants were the poor, vulnerable and the marginalised, who were drawn from the Northern, Upper East, and Upper West Regions.

During the meeting, a representative of the Ghana Statistical Service made presentations on the impact of COVID-19 on households and businesses.

The presentations showed that most localities in the border and other districts did not benefit from the free water announced by the government because they did not have piped water.

The presentations also showed that COVID-19 contributed to the increasing inequality in the country as many of the government's interventions only benefited those, who were not vulnerable.

Mr Bayor Suuribaare Osman, a beneficiary of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) from the Nadowli-Kaleo District in the Upper West Region, said "At first, they paid LEAP allowances every two months but because of the pandemic, it took up to four months before they paid us. So, we suffered."

Madam Evelyn Diboro from Nadowli-Kaleo District said "When they closed the markets, there was no activity. So, we lost sales."

Mr Mumuni Mohammed, Northern Regional Programme Manager of SEND GHANA said similar meetings would be held in the middle and southern sectors of the country and the issues identified would be incorporated into a comprehensive document to engage the government to help do things differently for the benefit of the vulnerable.