Claim: NPP government has constructed more than 420 dams
Source: Moses Anim
Verdict: FALSE
Researched by Nusrat Essah
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Trobu Constituency, Moses Anim has claimed that the Akufo-Addo-led administration has completed over 420 dams under the “one village – one dam” policy.
The MP made the claim on JoyNews’ Next Chapter TV Show, a bi-weekly programme of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) hosted by Dennis Miracle Aboagye on September 4, 2024.
RelatedNews
In excerpts from the over two-hours long programme shared by JoyNews on Facebook, the MP is captured saying; “For the one village, one dam, we’ve completed over 420 dams as we speak.”[between 1hour :08 mins and 37sec to 1hour:08min and 45sec]
Fact-Check
To fact-check this claim, GhanaFact collected data from the Performance Tracker, a platform that hosts all the projects and achievements of the Akufo-Addo-led government from 2017 to 2024.
The one village, one dam project is listed under the section of Food Security of sector 9 and referred to as “Small Earth Dams”. The Performance Tracker shows that a total of 73 dams had been completed as of 2022 under the supervision of two separate ministries: 14 by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and 59 by the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development under the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project(GPSNP).
Fig 1 – Screenshot of dam figures from Performance Tracker
Investigating the figures
Under the category of Infrastructure Projects, the Performance Tracker claimed the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 2017 had constructed 14 dams in some villages of the Northern parts of the country.
Fig 2: The screenshot shows 14 dams constructed by MOFA
However, clicking on the link provided to show the full list reveals that only 13 dams were listed and out of the number, 4 of these dams are classified as “under construction.”
Fig 3: The screenshot shows 9 dams completed and 4 under construction
The platform also shows 117 dams completed at the end of 2016.
Fig 4: The image shows 117 dams in 2016
The same page of the Performance Tracker shows another 59 Small earth dams constructed under the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPSNP) from 2019-2022 and sourced to the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development.
Fig 5: The image shows dams constructed between 2019-2022
However, clicking on the link provided to view these projects shows that instead of the 59 shown on the surface, only 39 projects have been listed as completed.
Fig 6: Screenshots show a total of 39 dams completed between 2019-2022
The above evidence using available data compiled by the government indicates only 48 dams were completed, which is less than 100 dams at the time this report was written.
Verdict
Therefore, the claim is rated false.
