Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Save public promises, fix Kaneshie-Kasoa highway!!

Even when there is moderate rainfall affecting the areas bordering the Kaneshie-Mallam Junction-Kasoa highway, traffic congestion builds on this road in unfavourable proportions, but Monday’s downpour caused unprecedented gridlock that stretched over 20 kilometres and left thousands of commuters stranded for hours on the road.

The downpour flooded key sections of the Mallam-Kasoa stretch of the Accra-Cape Coast highway, making traffic standstill from Kaneshie.

Those who could not tolerate long waits on vehicles had to make their journeys home hours on foot.

For instance, a commuter had to walk for four hours and 20 minutes (7:00 p.m.–11:20 p.m.), covering a distance of about 15 kilometres, from his office at Kwame Nkru­mah Circle to his home at New Aplaku Last Stop.

It is public knowledge that the Kaneshie-Mallam Junction-Kasoa highway has peculiar problems that must be fixed.

For instance, it is well known that the Atala area gets flooded at the slightest rainfall, and the stretch from the toll booth (Tuba Junction) to the Broadcasting Junction suffers mudslides, with both situations impeding the free flow of traffic.

There are recorded instances of members of the public calling on the government to fix the highway.

For instance, we can recall an October 2023 demonstration by hundreds of residents of the Ga South Municipality in which they marched on the Mallam-Kasoa highway to protest the traffic situation commuters endure on daily basis, which is compounded when it rains.

The event had the hashtag “Fix Kasoa Highway.”

Besides, we remember another demonstration one month later in November in which the residents of Kasoa issued a two-week ultimatum to the government to construct a drainage system around the tollbooth and its surrounding areas to facilitate the smooth flow of water during rainfall.

Coming from the same group of “Fix Kasoa Highway” protesters, the ultimatum was necessitated by the refusal of the government to respond to the earlier demonstration and also for the omission of the Kasoa Highway from the list of roads the government intended to work on, which had been captured by the 2024 Budget and Economic Policy.

Anytime issues about the fixing of roads and any other public infrastructure crop up, public officials are quick to respond that they have plans in place to fix them.

Therefore, it is not surprising that following questions raised about the Monday downpour and the ensuing unprecedented gridlock on the Kaneshie-Mallam-Kasoa highway, the Municipal Engineer of the Weija-Gbawe Municipal Assembly, Dr. Daniel Sowah, has said the matter had been discussed with the Greater Accra Regional Minister-desig­nate, who has called for further discussions on a holistic solution to the problem at hand.

Such assurances have become trite because they have been given many times without being fulfilled.

If Dr. Sowah wants the public to believe him and, for that matter, the government, then the Kasoa highway, which is part of the ECOWAS highway, must be fixed promptly, as “seeing is believing.”

Ad hoc measures used to fix the road are not the best, and the current poor state of the country’s stretch of the ECOWAS Highway is a blot on the country’s image.