Some Inhabitants of Suame and other persons who work at the Suame magazine in the Ashanti Region have demonstrated against government over the failure of relevant authorities to resume construction works on a portion of the Suame-Maakro road, which has been left abandoned.
This is the second time in two weeks that residents and workers in the area have reiterated the need for authorities to fix the road.
The residents are disappointed that construction works on the stretch have stalled, a few months after contractors moved to the area.
The regular users of the road who joined the demonstration lament that the failure of the contractor to continue working on the project has made the road more deplorable.
“We all want development in our areas, that is why we vote. This road was not in a bad state, but the authorities said they wanted to make it better. After grading the road, we have not seen any form of action. It’s been almost four months. A lot of potholes have developed on the stretch. I even asked one of those constructing the road, and he said they were finding it difficult getting bitumen in the country. We have waited for them for a while, but they have still not resumed work. It has even affected us health-wise,” a protestor, Kwadwo Poku lamented.
The protestors said despite numerous promises by politicians, the road has not been fixed. They tell Citi News they feel the area has been neglected.
“Those of us at the Suame magazine are indeed suffering. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu represents us here. During the election period, we contributed to support them. They only deceive us during election periods and pretend to be fixing our roads. What has Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu done all these years in office? He has not even fixed the road in his hometown. They always disappoint us after we vote for them. They enjoy while we suffer,” a protestor, Margaret Nsemfoo, stated.
“The situation in the Ashanti Region is indeed disturbing. The region always helps the NPP to win elections, but they always neglect us when they come to power. Why do you start it and worsen the state of the road when you know you’re not ready to fix it? Because of the dust here, our engines are getting spoilt. A driver who was rushing a sick person to the hospital died in his attempt to dodge potholes and got involved in an accident. We are appealing to President Akufo-Addo to pay attention to the Ashanti region,” another protestor, Isaac Appiah noted.
The drivers in the area also complain that the poor nature of the road affects them badly.
“The situation affects the drivers a lot. Vehicles struggle to move. The dust is just unbearable. We get sick at times. We are thus appealing to government to fix the road for us,” a driver, Issah Seidu added.
As part of the demonstration, the protestors blocked the road, which caused heavy vehicular traffic on the stretch.
Officers from the Suame Divisional police command and those from the Ashanti regional police command struggled to control the protestors.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Ashanti regional branch of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Anthony Oppong who works at the Suame Magazine however said they have been assured by authorities that work will resume on the stretch next week.
“I am here to calm the protestors down. Yesterday, I personally took the trouble to go to the Ghana Highways Authority, the Urban roads department and spoke to the regional engineer. He has given us the assurance that they have some bitumen coming from Turkey. By this weekend, it is landing at the Tema harbour. By next week they will come and fix the road. Yesterday, when we returned, it was quite late, so we didn’t get time to engage our people. So I am here to explain to them to let them know that we’ve taken steps to talk to the authorities, and they are in preparation to come and do something, so, they should calm down”.