Residents of Ashaiman have given the Road Minister and the government a two-month ultimatum to fix their bad roads, or they will give them sleepless nights with series of mammoth demonstrations.
At a demonstration organised by the Concerned Citizens of Ashaiman, on Tuesday, the residents and some assembly members, the Member of Parliament (MP), youth groups, traders and religious leaders expressed regret over the deterioration of their road network, which is negatively impacting economic activities.
One of the conveners of the demonstration, Freeman Tsekpo, who is also an assembly member, revealed that only 28 out of the total 166 kilometres of the Ashaiman road network, representing 17 per cent, is partly motorable.
“Even out of the 28 kilometres of paved roads, only 2.7 per cent, representing 9.5 kilometres is in good shape. We are, therefore, urging the government to, as a matter of urgency, begin to fix the Ashaiman roads within the next two months or we will be compelled to embark on another massive demonstration, this time from Ashaiman to the Roads Ministry in Accra,” Mr Tsekpo alleged
The Regent of Ashaiman, Nii Anan Adjor, on his part, described the state of the Ashaiman roads in a sorry state, considering the volume of economic activities that are undertaken with corresponding revenue generation.
Nii Adjor, therefore, demanded from government to consider the plight of Ashaiman, saying “Ashaiman, like other parts of Ghana, also deserves better.”
The demonstrators, after marching through some principal streets of the municipality, converged at the Ashaiman Assembly, where Albert Boakye Okyere, the Municipal Chief Executive, received the petition.
In his acknowledgement, he thanked the demonstrators for the peaceful protest, which he described as germane.
Mr Okyere, addressing the demonstrators, said for example, in 2019, the government awarded the Ashaiman New Town Junction-Afariwa road to a contractor, “but the contractor is nowhere to be found.
“Well, the unavailability of funds compelled the contractor to leave the site. But, I can promise you that I am personally working to get the contractor to return to the site.”
The demonstrators did not give the police, dispatched to provide security, any cause to worry.
