Hundreds of residents and commercial drivers in Kasoa last Friday staged a four-hour demonstration to protest the appalling condition of their roads network particularly the Kasoa-Mallam stretch of the Accra-Kasoa highway.
The protestors blocked the roads during the demonstration exercise, making movement of vehicles and pedestrians very difficult on the stretch.
Some of the many placards had inscriptions such as: “I lost my job because of the Kasoa bad roads”, “landlords losing tenants because nobody wants to live in Kasoa”, “the government has failed us”, “fix Aplaku-Bortianor roads, “fix Galilea roads”, “drivers are suffering” and “Kasoa is in shamble.”
The deplorable nature of a section of the Mallam-Kasoa highway and roads linking many communities in Kasoa has been a problem for residents and commuters for some time now.
The protestors claimed that several calls for the problem to be fixed had fallen on deaf ears, resulting in the demonstration which caused heavy vehicular traffic on the streets.
Any time it rained, the Kasoa-Tollbooth area and the Old Barrier stretch become impassable, the water draws silt and mud and heap on one side of the highway, creating huge vehicular traffic as cars negotiate the road to avoid the mud.
The protestors numbering more than a thousand are demanding a solution to the problem which some claimed was affecting their businesses and health.
A commercial driver, Abrantie Frimpong, said plying the Kasoa road each day came with too much stress due to the long travel time caused by the roads.
“The situation is heartbreaking, the individuals representing us in parliament are also not doing us any good especially the Member of Parliament for Ga South. It seems everything about Kasoa is of no interest to the government.”
“Authorities must for once take us seriously and desist from ignoring our plight,” he lamented.
Another commuter, Edward Nsaful, mentioned that the deteriorating nature of the roads also contributed to floods in the area, as many gutters were now choked with filth and silt.
According to him, the lack of maintenance culture in the country should be checked to save money while protecting properties.
He wondered why it had to get to the point where people must come out to demonstrate when the havoc being caused by the bad roads was very clear.
One of the leaders of the demonstration, Elaine Attoh, morning show host of the Class Media Group, expressed worry about the lack of attention from the Ghana Highways Authority about the dangerous nature of the Kasoa roads.
She said bad roads affected the economy and posed risks to commuters, adding that the concerns of the protestors should be addressed with all the seriousness it deserved.
FROM RAISSA SAMBOU, KASOA
