A Krobo-Odumase based youth advocacy group in the Lower Manya Krobo municipality of the Eastern Region, Kloma Hengme Association, has announced its intention to stage a peaceful demonstration on July 24, 2025, to protest the government’s neglect of the Odumase-Kpong road project.
The group has formally notified the Ghana Police Service in line with the Public Order Act, citing worsening road conditions and the failure of authorities to resume stalled construction works on the critical road corridor that connects Somanya, Odumase, and Kpong.
According to the group, the Somanya-Odumase-Kpong road project remains a vital economic and social artery linking the Yilo and Manya Krobo municipalities to the Lower Manya enclave and beyond.
However, the Chairman for the Association, Mr. Isaac Tamatey Otu, indicated that the road has been left in a deplorable state, making travel increasingly hazardous and undermining economic activities in the area.
“The dust pollution, deepening potholes, and overall deterioration of the road are not only damaging vehicles and threatening livelihoods, but also endangering lives,” the association wrote in its notice to the police.
The group stated that while some reconstruction work began in mid-2024, the project abruptly stalled at the start of 2025 due to the government’s inability to settle outstanding payments with the contractor. The contractor has since abandoned the site, leaving residents and road users to endure daily hardship.
In a recent announcement, the government pledged to release GH¢4 billion out of the GH¢13 billion allocated in the 2025 budget to pay off arrears owed road contractors nationwide by the end of July.
However, the Kloma Hengme Association says it has lost faith in such assurances, given the persistent delays and lack of transparency.“We are not organizing this demonstration out of malice but out of necessity. Our people are suffering, and our calls for action have gone unheeded,” the chairman for the group told this reporter.
The youth group emphasized that the planned protest will be peaceful, non-violent, and conducted in full cooperation with the police to ensure public safety and traffic management, hence appealed to all residents, traders, transport operators, and civil society actors in the Krobo area to join the demonstration in solidarity.
The Odumase-Kpong road was awarded on contract by the previous administration in 2024, but was halted within months after the government reportedly failed to meet payment obligations.
The Finance Minister, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, recently disclosed that the government’s indebtedness to contractors and suppliers had ballooned to GH¢67.5 billion, a figure that continues to cripple infrastructure development across the country.
As July 24 approaches, tensions are rising among Krobo youth, who view the abandoned road project as a symbol of government neglect and broken promises, adding that, unless swift and concrete action is taken to resume work on the highway, they will proceed with the demonstration to demand accountability and justice for their communities.
