In a significant effort to provide relief to students and ensure the continuity of the academic calendar, the Member of Parliament for Cape Coast North, Dr. Kwamena Minta Nyarku, has engaged the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to supply potable water to all halls of residence at the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
The intervention was necessitated by the acute water crisis currently affecting Cape Coast and its surrounding municipalities. Although the situation has seen some improvement over the years, it has been worsened by rampant illegal mining (galamsey) activities along the River Pra, which have heavily polluted raw water sources, pushing turbidity to extreme levels of around 12,500 NTU, far above the 8,000 NTU treatment limit.
The intervention by Dr. Minta Nyarku, popularly known as Ragga, was prompted after a member of his team alerted him to the water shortage on the UCC campus. “I received a call from ‘Landlord’, one of my team members, about the water shortage on the UCC campus,” he said.
Subsequently, the MP engaged the Management of UCC and informed them of his arrangement with the GNFS to supply water to the halls to address the challenge. “I spoke to the GNFS boss to provide water to all halls by filling the water reservoirs at the respective halls,” he revealed.
The intervention is not limited to tertiary institutions. It will be extended to cover all second-cycle institutions, hospitals, CHPS compounds, and subsequently the wider community.
A major highlight of the intervention is the plan by the MP’s office to drill boreholes at all halls and second-cycle institutions across the constituency to ensure a constant supply of clean water at all times.
“I plan to drill boreholes across all halls in the tertiary institutions and Senior High Schools in my constituency,” he announced emphatically. The first hall to benefit from the water supply will be Kwame Nkrumah Hall (KNH), whose management expressed delight at the MP’s intervention.
In conclusion, the MP expressed gratitude to the Management for their collaborative efforts with his office in alleviating the plight of UCC students amid the water crisis.
Speaking on the gravity of the situation, Dr. Frank Kwekucher Ackah, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Crop Science, who was present at the meeting, informed the MP that the Vice-Chancellor had notified the Dean of Students about students crossing the highway in search of water from the Centre for National Culture (CNC).
“I was called upon by the Dean of Students to ascertain the veracity of the information,” he recounted. “It was a serious spectacle watching students cross the highway just to get water,” he stressed.
According to Dr. Ackah, the challenge was real, and the institution had to find ingenious ways of addressing it. He welcomed the MP’s intervention.
A representative from the Dean of Students’ Office, who was also present at the engagement, acknowledged the MP’s gesture and thanked him, wishing him God’s blessings. “The Dean of Students thanks you for thinking about us, and this adds to the many good things you are doing for the institution,” he said in praise of Ragga.
Source By DC Kwame Kwakye
