Fosu Semefa sits by the banks of the Volta Lake in the beaming morning sun waiting for boats to dock for her to purchase fish.
This has been her daily routine since she became a young adult living in Debidebi in the Kpando Municipality of the Volta Region.
She is one of the many females in the community who engage in the selling of fried fish to support their livelihoods.
There are over 400 inhabits in the isolated settler community, where the local economy survives on fishing and farming.
Residents here live without one of life’s essentials, electricity.
This has affected the productivity of Semefa and her colleagues, as they have to improvise with torch lights while working at night.
“Relying on torch lights slows our work. Sometimes the torch will fall off your neck or run faulty”, she laments.
The unavailability of electricity in the community has also affected the education of the young ones, as they are unable to study in the evening.
All they do is play after school, engage in fishing expeditions and sleep in the late hours of the day.
Nonetheless, the government contracted Demsak Engineering Works Limited to extend the national electricity grid to Debidebi, Kudzra and Avega in 2019.
After 3 years of work, delays and several follow-ups by stakeholders, the Debidebi community was finally provided with electricity to the excitement of the residents.
The Chief Executive Officer of Demsak, Sakey Edem, explained that all extension works have been completed in Debibi, while he awaits a supply of transformers to fix in Kudzra and Avega.
He acknowledged the Kpando Municipal Chief Executive, Geoffrey Badasu’s commitment to ensure the project is delivered and expressed optimism to complete the 3 communities’ electrification project by January 2023.
“The people of Debidebi are seeing light for the first time, and they are so excited”, he said.
The Kpando MCE, Mr. Badasu indicated that his interest in the project is fueled by his vision of promoting economic growth in the municipalities to enhance livelihoods of residents.
“So now the people can engage in frozen food business, sell iced water and as well charge their phones.
Previously, they have to walk about 3 kilometers to the nearest community to charge their phones”, he said.
Mr. Badasu presented 7 street lights to brighten the community as the residents wait for their homes to be connected.
The Kpando Member of Parliament, Della Sowah, who also presented 4 streetlights to the community, assured of working with the MCE towards the development of the Kpando Municipality.
She chronicled her efforts towards ensuring the community is connected with electricity, adding that her office had lobbied for the access road to the community to be awarded for construction under the cocoa roads projects.
“What we have struggled for is here now and we will use it to celebrate Christmas“, she said.
Due to the availability of electricity, Semefa and her colleagues would be able to process their fish at night with less stress.
“We are excited about this development. I don’t have to put torch lights between my neck and shoulder when working at night. We won’t suffer neck pains anymore. We are very happy” she happily said.
“We are happy that we have been provided with what we wished for over the years”, said an Opinion Leader,
As the new dawn begins in the Debidebi community, it is the expectation of stakeholders that livelihoods would be improved in the coming years.
