While many people from other parts of the country would usually express discomfort over power outages, the situation for residents of Tolla, a community in the Talensi District, is one of permanent darkness, at least until the community is connected to the national electricity grid.
There is no single pole that one would see upon arriving in the community, leaving residents to endure darkness coupled with poor mobile network connectivity.
According to the Assembly Member for the Datuku Electoral Area, Ayariga Mahamudu, the lack of electricity is affecting the social and economic lives of residents of the area.
He explained that the situation has led to many individuals, especially teachers and nurses, often refusing to be posted to the community.
A recent case involved the posting of a lady to the area as part of her one-year mandatory National Service Program. Upon arrival, the lady refused to honour her posting to the area, citing the lack of electricity.
Charging mobile phones and grinding food items is done outside the community since there is no electricity.
The Assembly Member, Mr. Mahamudu is appealing for the extension of electricity to the community to create some economic opportunities for the people of the area.
“In the community, there is no electricity, so we are appealing to the government, the MP, and the DCE to come to our aid to bring development to the area. It is affecting us a lot. It is affecting our social life.
When they post nurses and teachers to the area, they won’t come. Just recently, they posted one National Service Personnel to the area, but when she came, she said she could have managed despite the area being a remote area, but without electricity, she couldn’t stay. And even people are not able to engage in any trade because of the lack of electricity.”
