Drivers Threaten to Down Cars

COMMERCIAL DRIVERS plying the Nkawkaw-Akwasiho-Hweehwee-Sempoa road in the Kwahu South district of the Eastern Region have threatened to withdraw their services due to the bad nature of the roads in the area.

Residents of over 80 communities stretching from Suwuro to Sempoa have also threatened to boycott any future elections if the roads in the area are not rehabilitated.

According to the drivers and residents, appeals and contacts to the appropriate authorities to rehabilitate the over 35 kilometres road in the area have fallen on death ears.

They said apart from Busia's government which did some major works on the roads, tarring some muddy and slippery portions, no adequate and proper rehabilitation had been done over 30 years now.

The drivers said now that the rains have set in, they would have no choice than to withdraw their services to save their properties and lives. If the threat is carried out, many cash and food crops produced in the area will go waste and the various communities will also be cut off the rest of the country.

Some of the communities which would be affected are Suwuro, Asikam, Aduhima, Asuoyaa, Mota and Suminakese. Others are, Brafoah, Hweehwee, Afuni, obuyan, Sempoa and many others.

Speaking to Chronicle, the vice chairman of the Nkawkaw-Hweehwee-Sempoa branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Mr. Kwame Yeboah alias Onipa Hia Moa said the union has made several appeals to the authorities for some years now, but nothing concrete has come out of it.

He said the drivers sometimes have to embark on communal labour to repair some of the worse portions of the road before they travel on it.

He stated that the situation has caused some of the drivers to withdraw their services, with others charging arbitrary fares which had brought untold hardship to the already poor farmers in the area. He therefore appealed to the authorities concerned to act quickly to save the situation.

On his part, the assemblyman for Suminakese electoral area, Mr. Peter Boamah Danso said farmers in the area are cheated by traders due to the situation, since many traders refuse to go to the area, making those who manage to go there dictate their own prices.

He said many farm produce go waste every year, making the youth who were in serious farming leave to the urban centers for non-existing jobs.

When the Kwahu South district chief executive (DCE), Mr. Raymond Osafo Djan was contacted, he explained that he had informed the appropriate authorities about the situation and hoped that something concrete would be done about it.

He however, disclosed that he was negotiating with some contractors working on some projects in the district to enable the assembly repair the bad portions of the road and therefore urged the drivers and the people to exercise patients.

With raining season just started, if nothing is done to the road, communities in the district will be completely cut off from the rest of the country.