President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed the government’s commitment to develop the Lawra-Tumu Trunk Road in the Upper West Region which connects the country with its northern neighbour, Burkina Faso.
He said the government had made allocation in this year’s budget for the construction of the road, among other roads in the Upper West Region.
President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance when the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs called on him at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday.
The traditional leaders presented a number of concerns to the President, with the poor nature of roads in the region as one of its topmost challenges.
President Akufo-Addo said one of the topmost priorities of his administration was to improve the condition of the major trunk roads in the country that connect the country with its neighbours.
That, he said, would open up the country and facilitate trade between the country and its neighbours.
President Akufo-Addo indicated that his biggest burden as President of the country was the nature of roads in the country and chided his predecessor, former President John Mahama for claiming that he had constructed unprecedented roads in the country.
“Before I came here, I was told by my principal competitor that he had done all the roads in the country, and that he is responsible for unprecedented infrastructural development,” he said and added that yet, the nature of roads in the country was still deplorable.
“It is not good for us as politicians to be misleading the people. If you have not done something, don’t claim it, don’t write or make pronouncements on it. The people themselves can tell the truth of what is going on.”
“When I questioned the statement (on the roads) as an opposition leader, I was met with the response that I was asleep when I was driving through the country,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo stressed the need for political leaders to exercise responsibility when making claims about their track records.
The President of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, Kuoro Babini Kanton VI, appealed to the President to use his good office to facilitate the passage of the University for Development Studies (UDS) autonomous campuses bill into law.
He also appealed to the President to help facilitate the completion of the Wa Regional Hospital to enhance healthcare delivery in the region and minimise referral of cases from the region to facilities outside the region.
On the list of petitions was the Wa Airport project. The traditional leaders urged the President to facilitate the process to fast-track operations of commercial flights to ease movement of travellers from the Upper West Region to other parts of the country and vice versa.
President Akufo-Addo, in response, promised to give serious consideration to the petitions.
BY YAW KYEI
