By Laudia Sawer
Ashaiman, Oct. 3, GNA – Concerned Citizens of Ashaiman on Tuesday embarked on a demonstration dubbed “Fix Our Roads” to push their demand for better road networks in the municipality.
The protestants, clad in red, as part of the demonstration, blocked the Ashaiman Traffic Intersection, which connects the municipality to Tema and other nearby communities, leaving commuters stranded.
They also burnt vehicle tyres in the middle of the road as part of the protest.
Singing and chanting, they held placards, some of which read: “Our Businesses are Collapsing as a Result of Bad Roads; Fix Them Now”, “We pay taxes; fix our roads”, “Our health is in danger as a result of bad roads; please fix our roads”, and “Good roads promote businesses,” among others.
To ensure a peaceful demonstration, a number of police personnel were present during the protest.
Mr. Freeman Tsekpo, the Assembly Member for Nii Komieteh Electoral Area and Leader of the group, presented a petition to Mr. Albert Otchere, the Ashaiman Municipal Chief Executive, for upward submission to the government.
Mr. Tsekpo said the demonstration was to draw the attention of the government to the deplorable nature of the roads and call for immediate action to fix the life-threatening roads in Ashaiman.
He said that for far too long, the people of Ashaiman had suffered the dire consequences of bad roads.
“While promises upon promises by the Roads Minister, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, our Municipal Chief Executive, and those in authority over the years to fix the roads have yielded nothing, the hoping upon hoping by we the people has become a hopeless hope. Successive governments have been unfair to us, the people of Ashaiman,” he added.
He stated that Ashaiman has a total of 166 km of network of roads, out of which only 28 km, representing 17 percent, were paved and 137 km, representing 83 percent, were unpaved.
“As we are gathered now, out of this 28km paved, only 2.7 km, representing 9.5%, can be said to be of good road, and 25 km, representing 89%, are full of potholes and manholes.”
According to the protestors, in 2016, the government awarded 21 km of roads to Ashaiman, which had been diverted to Tema in the early months of 2017.
He added that within the last six years, the government has promised 16km of roads, but only 1.4km has been done.
The resurfacing of the roads has been a mirage, leaving their health and cars at the mercy of the poor roads.
The protestors therefore asked the government to fix the Ashaiman Municipal Traffic Light to Presby Junction section of the Ashaiman-Adjie Kojo Road, the Ashaiman Main Market to Lebanon section of the Ashaiman overhead-Zenu Road, the Ashaiman Newtown junction to Afariwaa junction road, and the Community 22 and Lebanon inner roads.
“If within two calendar months we do not see any action of works within our community, we will match and picket at the ministry of roads in Accra,” they threatened.
GNA