By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The Water Resources Commission (WRC) has inaugurated two Local Water Committees (LWCs) in Bole and Wa East Districts.
They are Bole LWC and the Wa East LWC. The LWCs, which were constituted at Bole and Funsi, will play critical roles in the management and sustainability of water resources in communities across their catchment areas.
Speaking at the events, the Head of the Black Volta Basin, Dr. Joachim Ayiwa Abungba, stressed that water governance/management should be everyone’s business.
He continued that everyone uses water and is therefore incumbent on all of us to play a role in water management by cooperating with all key stakeholders.
Dr. Abungba pointed out that LWCs are part of the programme of the WRC under the Ghana Landscape Restoration Programme and Small Scale Mining Project to operationalise and strengthen local water governance to support monitoring of artisanal and small-scale mining activities, to support water resources management activities, and to support local governance with regards to resources management.
He added that the LWC is part of the general framework of institutionalising local governance in water resources management.
“LWCs, the world over, are one of the surest bets of getting communities to be integrated into water resources management activities, because it is at the local level that real implementation goes on. It is at that level that you have the impact really felt, because at the basin level, you are really some distance away from the ground, but this is where the impacts are felt,” Dr Abungba affirmed.
The Bole LWC has Braimah Abass as the Chairman and Mahama John Osman as the Secretary.
Madam Mary Abdulai secured the Treasurer position, and John Tesinia Seidu picked up the Information Officer slot.
For the Wa East LWC, Kankpan Moses is the Chairman with Seidu Baleri as the Secretary.
The Treasurer position went to Madam Rahinatu Mohammed, while the Information Officer role went to Sumakamba Bolibie Ahmed. The Chairman of the Bui Sub-Basin Committee, Chief Amankwa Iddisah, graced the event at Bole.
The Chairman of the Bole Local Water Committee, Braimah Abass, observed that the insight gained during the orientation programme has updated their knowledge to further educate others at the community level to up their game in environmental conservation.
