Three communities in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region have mechanized boreholes — on paper. In reality, residents compete with their animals for water from hand-dug wells and muddy dams.

Kpatua, Guntingli and Kamshegu were listed as beneficiaries of water projects funded by the World Bank under its Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project in 2022. The SOCO Project is being implemented by the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs.

A project implementation document obtained by The Fourth Estate shows that 10 communities in the Yendi Municipality were provided with a borehole each. They are; Kpaku, Dabganja, Kpatua, Kashengu Kpanjamba 1 Kpanjamba 2, Kuni, Meindogu, Gundogu and Guntingli.

However, when The Fourth Estate visited Kpatua, Kashengu and Guntingli, none of the communities had a single SOCO water project.

In the project implementation document, Kpatua and Kamshegu have one mechanized borehole each, while Guntingli has a handpump borehole. But on the ground, they do not exist.

Meanwhile, M. Gazaali Company Limited, the company that was awarded the contract was paid over GHS 1 million for all the 10 projects.