Traditional leaders in Tumu in the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region have given residents and business operators who have encroached on the road corridor from Tumu to Léo, on the Burkina Faso border, two weeks to vacate the area.
The directive is to pave way for the construction of the international trunk road, which forms part of the government’s Big Push infrastructure programme to improve trade and transport links between Ghana and Burkina Faso.
Speaking to affected residents and business operators, the Secretary to the Landlord of Tumu, Mr Godfred Baveru Kanton, said all persons who have encroached on the road reservation must dismantle their structures and clear the marked corridor.
He said the road has existed for more than 80 years and its boundaries had long been demarcated as an international route.
“Those of us who have encroached on the road should prepare to move, so that the road construction can take place,” he said.
Mr Kanton also cautioned political leaders, including the Member of Parliament and the Municipal Chief Executive, against intervening on behalf of persons affected by the clearance exercise.
He said although the political leaders had supported efforts to secure the project, they should not interfere with the traditional authority’s decision by appealing on behalf of encroachers.
He further urged owners of containers, kiosks and other structures along the corridor to remove their belongings before the exercise begins to avoid losses.
The traditional authority commended the President for prioritising road development in the Sissala enclave and appealed to the government to retain Mawums, the contractor currently working on roads in the area for the international corridor project.
It cited the company’s work on the Tumu-Sissily road as evidence of its experience and familiarity with the area.
The Member of Parliament for Sissala East, Mr Issah Mohammed Bataglia, supported the call for the road corridor to be cleared, saying the long-term economic benefits of opening the route to Burkina Faso outweighed the difficulties some residents might face.
He said the project was not intended to cause hardship but to open up the area to greater economic activity.
“The vision is bigger than just individual pain,” Mr Bataglia said. He added that opening up the corridor would boost local trade, improve highway security and create opportunities for young people through transport-related businesses.
The MP assured residents that further engagements would be held to minimise the social impact of the clearance exercise while ensuring that the contractor faced no unnecessary obstacles.
The road redevelopment plans are also expected to affect some public institutions in Tumu, including Kanton Senior High School.
The Headteacher of the school, Mr Mahamudu Zakaria Savei, described the condition of the school’s internal roads as deplorable, saying erosion had rendered some sections impassable to vehicles.
He said the school had not benefited from any major intervention of that nature since its construction in the 1960s.
“Since the construction of this school around the 1960s, we have not had any major interventions like this,” he said.
Mr Savei said fixing the internal roads, together with the reported commitment to upgrade the school from Category B to Category A, would provide a more conducive environment for teaching and learning.
He appealed to the government and other stakeholders to honour the commitment to rehabilitate the school’s internal roads.
He said the Municipal Chief Executive, who is an old student of the school, as well as the MP and the Minister of Roads and Highways, had previously expressed commitment to fixing the roads within the school campus.
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