'Chofi’ and bread sellers raise road safety concerns at Nsawam-Adoagyiri

Correspondence from Eastern Region

Bread and fried turkey tails popularly known by Ghanaians as ‘chofi’ sellers on the Nsawam-Adoagyiri overpass have raised some road safety concerns about the lack of directional signs on the main highway which, according to them, if not attended to would continue to claim more lives on that road.

The traders assert that there has not been a single day that an accident has not happened on that stretch of the road in the Eastern region.

The Nsawam-Adoagyiri overpass is built in such a way that linkages have been created at both sides of the overpass to connect motorists who want to go to the Nsawam and Adoagyiri township, Asamankese, Adeiso and other parts of the Eastern region, and to as well reconnect them back onto the highway.

However, the traders’ concerns are that authorities have failed to fix appropriate road signs that should direct the motorists to easily find their way to their destination. A situation they say is causing the uncountable carnage on that stretch of the Accra-Nsawam-Kumasi Highway.

Expressing their concerns, one of the traders said, “See the road…the road that they constructed, they did not indicate directions to Asaman or Adoagyiri to direct that one should pass under the overhead. All we see is cars get here and get confused then other cars speedily come to ram into them and then an accident occurs.

“See that cargo car standing there, just right now a certain Sprinter with tough speed towards Kumasi almost rammed into it. Yesterday an accident occurred here, everyday accidents occur here because there is no road sign positioned anywhere here to direct drivers. When accidents occur, we, the women you see here, we rescue them.

“The annoying aspect is those who use private cars; they rely on the directional map on their phones but that does not help them. They get lost despite gazing at their phone map; they get here and park on the main road then another car rams into them. Even when we notice their challenge and go to them to ask to offer help, they rather insult us.

“Those of us here, we are here because of our daily bread but we have become rescuers of accident victims.”

Another trader also expressed that a recent accident led to one of their colleague traders breaking her leg.

Watch the women share their plight below:



She said, “We are piteous, they should come to our aid. Every day you donate to others but we never get our share. We help so much on this road. This place is so dangerous. Last week, one of us had her leg broken because an accident occurred and in an attempt to run for cover, she fell and broke her leg.

“We are really suffering here. Accidents are occurring here. We, as women, are rescuing victims, sending them to the hospitals and even buying clothes for them.”

Another ‘chofi’ seller also averred that the Highway authority needs to raise a speed table before the overpass to reduce their speed so that the rampant accidents would be curtailed.

Almost all the women who expressed their concerns expressed worry about the President’s ban on funerals and other occasions.

They claim that the action by the President has had a huge toll on their trade as persons attending funerals had been their big markets.

“President Nana Addo should ease the restrictions on funerals. The funeral attendees are those who buy a lot from us to get our daily bread and to care for our homes.

“Whenever I hear people say Ghana should be locked down, those of us selling here at Nsawam get really worried. Lockdown will adversely affect those of us trading at Nsawam0Adoagyiri. The lockdown won’t help us.

“When the Coronavirus heightened, they never brought us anything from the government but we are really helping Ghana. Nobody will come and give us even a small cup of gari, much less to talk of someone bringing us a tuber of yam when there is lockdown,” one of them said.

They, therefore, called on the government and the local authorities to come to their aid.