Members of two families at Zorkor-Goo, a suburb of Bongo District in the Upper East Region, have expressed fear for their lives as they continue to live in between falling electricity poles for nearly ten years.
The two families, Anyebe’em and Ngila Kurigo, have lived in constant fear, uncertain of their safety from one day to the next, particularly during rainfall. The electricity wires hang from broken electricity poles, with live wires posing a threat to their lives.
Speaking to Godfred Awindenaba of xtrememediaonline.com on 4th April, 2025, Mama Azure Agambire, an old lady from the Ngila Kurigo’s house, stated categorically that they have been living with this issue for almost ten years, but every effort to get the people in authority to reposition the electricity poles has yielded no results.
“At first, it was these tilted poles. You can see how the wires are close to the roof of our house. My husband used to ride a bicycle to Bongo and even Bolga, trying to get the electricity company to remove the poles and fix them well, but nothing positive came out until four years ago, when the other pole over there got broken down, which further worsened the case, but still, efforts have not yielded any results.” She stated.
Read also: Overbilling and late billing of electricity consumption dominate PURC community complaint desk.
She further explained that they had brought the issue to the attention of the former assemblyman, who pursued the matter for four years without achieving a resolution and left office without resolving the problem.
“When Addo became the assemblyman, he came here with officials several times. They always promise to work on it, but it usually ends there. About two or three years ago, they brought us a bag of cement, saying that they were going to come back and fix the poles, but they never returned,” she added.
Corroborating this, Mama Alice Azoeyinga Akolmi, another family member, disclosed that they were informed that unless the wires actually fell to the ground, no action could be taken.
“They don’t even care whether we die or not. One of them last told us that until the wires fall to the ground, they can not fix the problem. I think they are waiting for us to die before they can fix it.”
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Hon. Fuseini Nbire, the assemblyman for the Goo Electoral Area, stated that he has been to the Electricity Company on several occasions for this same issue to no avail.
“For that issue I am worried; what even annoyed me is that I went to lay a complaint on this same issue, and one of them told me that there is nothing they can do unless the wires fall to the ground, and I asked him what they will do if the wires fall on people. But still, nothing has been done about it.”
Another woman from the family also stated that their husband, the head of the family, does not sleep whenever it is raining for fear that the wires may fall.
“Whenever it threatens to rain, Atanga will always go to the idols and tell his fathers that they should not allow him and his family to be killed by electricity. He doesn’t sleep when it is raining,” she explained.
They call on the government to favor their lives and fix this death trap for them.