Chiefs cry over deplorable roads in Volta Region

MEMBERS of the Volta Region House of Chiefs on Wednesday poured out their emotions over the deplorable state of roads in the region and called on government to take immediate and decisive steps to address the problem in the broader national interest.

The chiefs at a meeting which was also attended by the Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, said that the state of the roads posed a bleak future for development progress and demeaning to the status of the people of the area, beside the serious death threats that they pose to road users.

The first salvo was fired by Togbe Patamia Dzekle VII; Fiaga of Battor who cited the road from Adaklu-Tsrefe to Adidome where about a 500-metre stretch beside a bridge had been left untarred.

He pointed out that the untarred portion which was left for a long time had deteriorated rapidly in defiance of public outcry, was dangerous to vehicular movement.

“This is a very important road which links a number of districts to Ho and supports livelihoods in the area.

“It is also the only road I can also use to attend meetings of the house in Ho”, he said.

Togbe Patamia Dzekle, therefore, called for the swift move, saying ‘a stitch in time saves nine’.

Expressing similar sentiments, Osie Adza Tekpor VII, Osie of Avatime specifically mentioned the abandoned Eastern Corridor Road, saying it had become more of an albatross than anything else, by its present condition.

He complained that some people in communities along the road, especially the Asikuma-Hohoe-Kadjebi portion and beyond, could no longer access healthcare readily in times of ailment, because travelling on the road to some health facilities in the area was a complete nightmare.

The situation, he said, was also affecting economic activities in the area.

Furthermore, Osie Adza Tekpor revealed that some motorists who plied between Ho and Jasikan were no longer using the Eastern Corridor Road and preferred the Hohoe-Teteman stretch in order to avoid the hazards on the former.

He, however, commended the government for taking prompt steps to fix the Vane-Amedzofe road, following a recent incident involving a school bus which was returning from Ho to Amedzofe with students on board and skidded off the road and plunged into the valley.

The other dreadful highways the chiefs complained about were the Ho-Denu, Fume-Gbadzeme, Ho-Sokode-Akoefe and the Bame-Kpeve roads, among others.

Meanwhile, Nana Soglo Allo IV, president of the house, said that the Volta and Oti Regions were expectant of the promise made by President Naa Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo to resume work on the eastern corridor.

Responding, Dr Letsa said that bad roads were not peculiar to the region.

However, he gave the assurance that government was poised to fix the bad roads nationwide.

The priority roads had been identified in the country, including the Volta Region and the problem would soon be addressed, he told the house.

FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO