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Momodou
Denmark
11851 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Feb 2008 : 18:06:28
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Water Shortage Hits Seyone
By Modou Jonga
Residents of forty-five compounds at Seyone village in the Marakissa Ward, in the Kombo Central District of the Western Region, have currently witnessed water shortage. According to reports, the shortage is caused by the cutting-off of the water pipe that supplies water to Seyone. The bore hole which is located at Busura and supplies water to the villages of Seyone, Busura and Jalabantang is a water project of the European Commission. Reports note that the said water project is coordinated by the Department of Water Resources and is being managed by GAMSOLAR.
Water shortage, according to reliable reports hit Seyone few days after the just concluded Local Government elections in which an independent candidate emerged victorious. A total of 25 taps are said to be under the said water project, six are located at Jalabantang, 14 are located at Busura and five are at Seyone. However, the five taps at Seyone are disconnected by the water committee of the said project and the taps are dysfunctional.
Speaking to this reporter, a resident of Seyone alleged that the disconnection of the water pipe is politically motivated and that both the composition of the water committee and the distribution of taps are unbalanced. They noted that the whole village is entirely dependent on one local tap. The women noted that the cutting off of the water supply has caused them hardship forcing them to fetch to water from their uncovered wells, despite the associated risk.
The residents of Seyone, said the water committee has asked all the three beneficiary villages to make a total yearly payment of thirty thousand, seven hundred and forty dalasi ( D30,740). They noted Seyone is required an amount of seven thousand, six hundred and eighty five dalasis (D7685), for Jalabantang and D15,370 for Busura. Residents said the amount Seyone is asked to pay does not commensurate with the amount of water they consume and suggested that a separate water meter for each beneficiary village be provided.
According to the residents, the grand total of D30,740 is paid yearly to GAMSOLAR, part of which is used for the maintenance of the taps and the rest is returned to the water committee. They said an account was opened by the water committee but all the signatories to that account are residents of Busura and Jalabantang. “We do not have access to it,” they posited.
On his part, the chairman of the water committee, Malanding Sanneh, said the water project is meant purposely for Busura but that it is out of good neighbourliness that they connected Seyone and Jalabantang. Mr. Sanneh said his committee was set up to manage the affairs of the water project and that it was agreed that each compound within the three beneficiary villages should pay D240 and contribution towards the said grant total. Mr. Sanneh noted that Seyone has defaulted in paying their contribution to his committee and that the water pipe that supplied Seyone was disconnected previously, in 2006. He said several meetings were convened by his committee for the settlement of the arrears and representatives of Seyone have failed to attend.
According to Mr. Sanneh, before the Council elections, he had requested his assistant, Yunus Kujabi, a resident of Seyone to facilitate the collection of the arrears from Seyone but to no avail. On whether Jalabantang and Busura paid their share, Mr. Sanneh noted that the two villages have paid the major part of the money they are required to pay and that has exempted them from being disconnected.
He told this reporter that the Deputy Director of the Immigration Department, Mr. Buba Sanyang, has paid ten thousand dalasis for the water pipe to be reconnected for Seyone. He said the water supply to Seyone will be reconnected but a meeting will be convened to discuss any future default in payment. The said ten thousand dalasis, noted Mr. Sanneh, is handed over to the new Alikalo of Seyone, Kebba Jatta.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issues
Issue No. 23/2008, 25 – 26, 2008
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