By Godfred A. Polkuu
Soogo (U/E), Aug. 16, GNA-A culvert linking two farming communities, Soogo and Teshie in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region is left unfixed despite many appeals community members made to theDistrict Assembly.
The fixing of the culvert will restore normal economic activities and the movement of goods and services from Soogo to Zebilla, the District capital.
During the dry season, community members mobilised to fill the area with gravel to make it motorable, but with the onset of the rains, the gravel was washed off making the area inaccessible.
When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the community to assess the extent of damage caused by the rains, it observed that some community members, especially women and children from the two communities could not cross.
However, some brave motorbike users were able to meander their way through the water and broken pieces of the culvert to cross, while others retreated for fear of their life.
The helpless residents of Soogo who were the most affected told the GNA that Politicians, especially the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr Cletus Apul Avoka, whom they said was from the next community, Teshie, had over the years made promises to construct the culvert but nothing was done.
A youth leader at Soogo, Mr Timothy Awine Atibila, said “This culvert started deteriorating in 2015, but at the latter part of 2016, it was totally damaged. Politicians came here and promised us that they were going to fix it. Up till date, it has not been worked on.
“It is a big worry to us because this is a farming community and this is the culvert we use to transport farm produce in tricycles to our District capital. Even with motorbikes, if you don’t manoeuvre well, you will fall into the water. It is a big headache for us,” he said.
Mr Atibila said the Chief Executive for the area visited the community with some engineers last year and promised to return and fix the culvert, but nothing was done, “In fact, it is as if we are not part of Ghana. We need assistance,” he added.
Madam Aniayinya Apandago, a community member, said it was extremely difficult to transport pregnant and sick relatives to the Zebilla hospital, and lamented that the situation had not only affected their businesses but their children’s education.
She said the teachers in the community’s school lived at Zebilla and commuted to the area on a daily basis to teach, “Now teachers cannot use the road. It is even worse when it rains. For the past few days, no teacher was able to come here.”
Madam Apandago noted that what was of urgent need to them was for the culvert to be fixed, and emphatically stated that until that was done, “No politician should come to this community to campaign. We have been taken for granted for too long.”
When contacted, the District Chief Executive for the area, Mr Tahiru Issahaku Ahmed confirmed that the Assembly was aware of the broken culvert and that plans were underway to fix it.
“We are all concerned about it, and trying to get experts to see how we can fix it,” the DCE said.
GNA