Gyetiase and Tadieso communities in the Sekyere Central District of Ashanti region have registered their displeasure about the deplorable state of their roads, in a demonstration last Tuesday.
Protesting under a “No Road, No Vote” mantra, the demonstrators expressed their concerns in a petition to the District Chief Executive, Mr. Prince Dwomoh.
Prince Dwomoh, on behalf of the protesters disclosed that their roads have been unmotorable, unconstructed and untarred since independence, and they have suffered enough and cannot wait any longer.
He noted that the communities, which are located in the Ashanti region, are not in the hinterlands and that the Contractor (Win-Man Ghana Limited) left the site two years ago.
According to him, the Contractor resurfaced briefly on site because the Minister of Roads was touring the area only to disappear at the end of the Minister’s tour.
Mr. Dwomoh lamented that Teachers and Nurses among others refuse to accept postings to the area because of the poor road network, as well as causing loss of lives and miscarriages for pregnant women.
He disclosed that it is an eyesore when it rains.
According to him, Gyetiase has one of the best Eye Centres built by a Non-Governmental Organisation, through the instrumentality of one Maa Martha, a Pastor, but other towns cannot benefit from it because of their roads.
Mr. Dwomoh further explained that the demonstration is to draw the attention of authorities to the bad road network of less than ten kilometers and threatened that if the roads are not constructed before the December 7 elections, the affected communities would boycott the elections and prevent officials of the District Assembly from collecting tolls and levies for Internally Generated Fund after the elections.
Tuesday’s demonstration comes as a result of the failure by the Member of Parliament, Adelaide Ntim, who doubles as the Deputy Health Minister to deal with the situation.
The MP promised to mount pressure on the Road Minister to ensure that the road sees the needed rehabilitation, but nothing has been done since.
Receiving the petition, Kingsley Kodua Benjamin, the District Chief Executive, said he was well aware of the deplorable state of the roads and very disturbed about it.
He noted that efforts have been made to ensure the construction of the roads, but no positive results yet.
The DCE promised that he would do everything in his capacity as the DCE to ensure that the road is constructed and assured that Gyetiase and Tadieso communities that they would be the first in the district to benefit from the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) initiative, launched by the President recently.
From Oswald Pius Freiku, Nsuta
