Hafiz Tijani writes: Worthy votes but unworthy roads, Ashanti Region’s biggest nightmare

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Roads, they say, are the arteries of any town or country. Roads also open up a city or country for economic and social activity. Bad roads are therefore an enduring nightmare for motorists and other road users in and around the Ashanti Region, a region with huge economic and cultural activity, with a fast-growing population.

The region is home to one of Africa’s most revered monarchs, the Asantehene, and it is not only embarrassing the state of the roads but also a drain on the people living in the region.

The towns of the region are known for their distinct features in terms of landmark, cultural and traditional history. The nature of the roads is however affecting the economic impact these cultural histories and landmarks could have made on the communities where they are located. Tourism which the region could leverage on to raise revenue for its development is greatly hampered because the roads leading to the tourist sites are very deplorable and so difficult to even convince any tourist to visit those centres for their relaxation and leisure.

Major tourist attraction sites like the Bonwire Kente weaving centre in the Kwabre East Municipality, the Bosomtwi Lake in the Bomsomtwi District and the Bomfobiri Wildlife Sanctuary in the Sekyere Kumawu District face low patronage due to the deplorable nature of roads leading to these facilities.

Even the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi — a city that has gained popularity beyond the shores of Africa is not spared of the deplorable roads.

Kwadaso, Krofrom, Suame, Tafo, Subin, Ashtown, Oforikrom and other major areas within Kumasi, some of which have become municipalities are still battling with roads that have developed big potholes.

The roads are dusty during the dry season, muddy and slippery in the rainy season and the daily struggles of the road user worsen with the gaping potholes that have taken over the roads.

The bad nature of these roads in the Ashanti Region affects education, healthcare delivery and Agriculture.

A farming community in the Atwima Mponua district Bayerebon No. 5 will not be left out if one is talking about bad roads in the Ashanti Region.

The situation affects quality healthcare in the area as not only ambulances transporting patients are affected, but also taxi cabs which are the commonest means of transporting the sick to the hospital. These vehicles are not able to move with the required speed due to the bad state of the roads and often it is a risky venture transporting patients. Imagine a patient undergoing intravenous infusion, what we commonly call drip, and having to be transported on a pothole-riddled road from one hospital to the other. Picture a woman in labour being ferried from her home to a hospital on such a road!

Farm produce from farms in the hinterland fail to reach the city or municipal centres. This is discouraging to farmers in those areas as their labour is not rewarded simply because the means to transport foodstuffs to the appropriate markets are not there. They end up selling their produce cheaply or watch they rot on their farms. This affects the region or country’s overall food security as foodstuffs would have to be sourced from other countries to meet consumption levels.

Another place worthy of mention is Kaase, which is located in the Asokwa Municipality. I get angry each I visit this area. My anger stems from the fact that, Kaase is an industrial area with viable industries like; Olam Cocoa, AGM Cocoa, timber processing companies, the Guinness Ghana Limited and the Kumasi Abattoir Company Limited, but the nature of the roads there is nothing to write home about.

For almighty Obuasi, a town which is touted as Ghana’s Gold City, the least talk about bad roads there, the better. The Obuasi to Dunkwa road is also very bad. If Ghana was called the Gold Coast, then it was due to towns like Obuasi. Gold has been mined in this town for over a century, yet the state of roads there is nothing short of disgraceful. Recently, there was some demonstration there to push home their quest for better roads.

The police find it very difficult to fight crime and commuters who use these roads on a daily basis bear the brunt of the nature of the dusty, slippery and muddy roads.

Given the picture painted above, the disappointment grows daily in a region where people have strong affection for the ruling political party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Indeed, the Ashanti region is a stronghold of the governing party. The loyalty of the region to the party is such that the NPP has not made below 80% in elections in the 4th Republic.

For some, the dilemma remains whether to keep churning out the worthy votes while they endure the roads not worthy of their commitment, or the beneficiaries of their votes will attend to their call to rehabilitate the roads.

Residents, commuters and general road users appear fed-up with the poor state of the roads in the region and some of them have no option than to resort to demonstrations to compel the Government to get the issues addressed.

On Monday, 10th December 2018, protesters took to the streets over the poor nature of the Obuasi-Dunkwa roads.

I recently listened to a local radio station in Kumasi during which a leader of one of the youth groups in the region was lamenting over how successive Governments including the current one have neglected a major plight of the people who queue for hours mostly in the sun to vote in every election.

He said they were also planning a massive demonstration over the bad roads in the region and also to demand their fair share of the national cake.

I became so happy when I heard that cabinet approved a €55 million facility for the rehabilitation of a 100-kilometre road network and street projects for some towns and communities in Kumasi. Although the beneficiary areas Bantama Sub metro, Kwadaso, Manhyia, Oforikrom, Suame, Asokwa, Subin, Nhyiaeso and Tafo Pankrono are major and very important areas in the region because of the economic and traditional activities that go on there, areas with the worst road networks have not been captured in this arrangement.

In the 2016 general elections, the Kwabre East Constituency voted massively for the NPP (over 90% votes for both Presidential and Parliamentary). Despite this massive show of solidarity with the party, this area has the worst road network in the Ashanti Region. Although work started some three months ago to upgrade some of the roads, it appears contractors have abandoned the projects as most of them are not seen on site and the progress of work remains slow at areas where contractors are working.

Road users on the Atonsu-Kuntenase road have been left to endure the dust after contractors were not seen on site during a visit. Work progress is slow on the Aboabo-Airport roundabout road and the Airport Roundabout-Estate junction road.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, in the presence of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II chided some contractors for not being able to meet the deadline for the project.

Deep potholes are turning into gullies on roads within the Asokore Mampong Municipality which were rehabilitated before the 2016 general elections. Drivers and road users, who hailed the project when it was being executed, now see most roads in the municipality as death traps.

I attribute negligence on the part of officials who were supposed to play supervisory roles when the project was being executed, and shoddy work on the part of the contractor who undertook the project, for this waste for resources.

There are ongoing campaigns by some local radio stations in Kumasi and the Ashanti region to get the bad roads fixed. For residents and road users, the anger over bad roads in the Ashanti region is growing every day.

For me, worthy votes cannot beget such unworthy roads. The roads continue to be Ashanti Region’s biggest nightmare, and the earlier duty bearers heed the call of residents to address the concerns, the better.

The writer, Hafiz Tijani, is Citi FM/Citi TV’s Ashanti Regional correspondent


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Kennedy Mornah is an Award Winning Ghanaian Journalist with over two decades of experience in the Ghanaian Media landscape spanning the electronic, print and digital media. He is a Media Consultant, a Corporate MC, Radio and TV Host, Founder and Publisher of the Maritime and Transport Digest Newspaper, Businessman, a Go getter and an optimist. He has worked for renowned media organizations including Diamond Fm in Tamale, Luv Fm in Kumasi, Oman Fm in Accra and Starr Fm in Accra In 2017 he received the Reporter of the Year Award at the Ghana Shippers Awards in Accra, Ghana.

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