play videoThey said the deplorable road networks are negatively affecting local economy and driving business
Residents of Akuse in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region and Asutuare, Volivo, Osuwem, and surrounding communities in the Shai Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region on Monday protested over what they say is the dilapidated state of their roads.
The agitated residents say they have been neglected by successive governments, thus their resolve to demonstrate.
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Although the government declared 2020, as the year of roads, it seems the promise made by the finance minister has not yet brought relief to some people.
Some of the demonstrators who spoke to GhanaWeb threatened not to participate in the 2024 elections if the roads are not worked on. ‘no roads no vote,’ they chanted.
According to the agitated youth, persistent calls to authorities under different governments to fix the destructive nature of the roads have yielded zilch results, forcing them to resort to the streets to drum home their concerns.
All day as the protests lasted, the protesters blocked all roads leading from Akuse through Asutuare, Volivo to Osuwem, denying access to and leaving many travelers and vehicles stranded in the process.
Truckloads of products from some of the companies in the enclave were also stranded as the youth resolved not to re-open the roads. It took the intervention of police personnel from the Akuse Police Command and some community leaders to ensure that the blockades are cleared around 4pm.
Clad in red armbands and attire, the residents burned car tyres, chanted war songs, and called on relevant authorities to have their roads fixed.
Though the industries are not directly responsible for the construction of roads in the area, the residents accused them of doing very little to solve the problem, threatening that they’d be forced to shut down the industries if nothing was done about the roads.
Assemblyman for Osuwem, Honourable Emmanuel Wayo said the farmers found it difficult transporting their foodstuffs to the markets. “Our goods remain in the bush all because, at times when it rains as we talk, the vehicle finds it difficult to carry the goods from the bush to the market so these are the challenges we’re facing and we want the government to at least fix the roads for us,” said the Assemblyman.
Another resident, Ebenezer Akunnor said, “we’re suffering…we have several companies here that they are not doing anything, we have several mining (companies) here but they are not doing anything for us. We are pleading to the government that when our wives and mothers are pregnant, sometimes, they give birth on the roads, we’re suffering.”
The enclave hosts many factories and institutions including the Akuse Government Hospital, Kpong Hydro Generation Station, Kpong Farms Limited, Volta River Estates Limited, Golden Exotics Limited, Osudoku Senior High School, Fujian Fish Farm, Troppo Fish Farms, Shinefeel and Shinestar companies, Lan T Industries, Z And J Construction and Sand winning Company Limited, Kpong Irrigation Scheme, Akuse Prisons among others but roads leading to and from the area are in horrible shape with deep galleys lining many portions.
GPRTU chairmen Petition
In a petition addressed to the Minister of Railways through the MCE for Lower Manya Krobo and District Chief Executive for Shai Osudoku, officials of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) whose vehicles are affected by the deplorable roads lamented that the expanse of the road from Okwenya through Akuse, Asutuare through Tokpo-Aveyime-Battor and from Asutuare to Asutuare-junction linking the Akosombo-Tema highway were so horrible that drivers have to change their vehicle ball joints, suspensions, absorbers, and tyres often.
The petition signed by four GPRTU chairmen including Awudu Ibrahim Mahama of the Okwenya Union, Isaac Amartey of the Kpong Branch, Mr. Moses Azametor of the Somanya Union, and Joshua Asilevi, the secretary noted that the roads leading to the Akuse Prisons, Police Station and Government Hospital, were equally affected by the situation.
According to them, the roads serve four major markets: Akuse, Ada Junction, Asutuare, Agormanya, and Somanya markets in Yilo Krobo, Lower Manya Krobo, Shai Osudoku, and Ada East.
According to them, the situation forces the drivers to make bad judgments, resulting in frequent accidents.
They believe that the government and the country stand to gain more if their roads are fixed.
MP’s response
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Shai Osudoku, Hon Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo in responding to the issues raised said though the John Mahama administration initiated the Volivo Bridge project, nothing whatsoever has happened apart from the consultancy tasks that were undertaken long ago.
According to her, efforts have been made to mobilize the resources of stakeholders within the enclave to reshape the Volivo-Aveyime road, adding that contacts have been made with Fujian who has agreed to provide machinery, and labour to that effect.
She furthered that as an MP, she had made efforts to mobilize resources to undertake the same but the erratic flow of financial resources within the economy coupled with other pressing demands have derailed her efforts.
Honourable Ocloo however said that some assessments had already been made on projects such as the Osuwem – Nyigbenya road, Osuwem Community roads, and the Asutuare Junction - Golden Exotics – Asutuare road.
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