Editorial by The Chronicle : Kwabena Donkor’s legal threat against GHA is not necessary

Dr. Kwabena Donkor, Member of Parliament (MP) for Pru East, has reportedly threatened to take legal action against the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) over the poor state of the Ejura-Yeji highway. The Lawmaker contends that the stretch is riddled with deep potholes and poses a threat to the lives of commuters, thus creating discomfort because of the long travel hours.

Speaking to the media in Kumasi, Dr. Donkor said the highway had been allowed to deteriorate so much that the road no longer has potholes, but craters. To him, therefore, the Ghana Highways Authority and Ministry for Roads are endangering the lives of the people on that corridor.

He told the media that it takes four to five hours to travel on that stretch because of the craters, saying the people can no longer tolerate this. It is upon the basis of this that he is considering going to court to compel the Ghana Highways Authority to do what the law has set it up to do, because the people have a right to safety and protection of their lives.

Going to court to have the problem resolved is a right reserved for Dr. Kwabena Donkor under the 1992 Constitution. Indeed, he is talking about life and death, and The Chronicle one hundred percent sympathises with him and his people. It, however, appears to us that, here in Ghana, we always have problems with roads – whether it is good or bad.

When the roads are good, drivers tend to over-speed on them, and the results are the carnage that we experience year in and year out. On the other hand, when the roads are bad, travelling on them, as noted by the MP, becomes a nightmare. Armed robbers sometimes take advantage of the situation to rob travellers.

Notwithstanding this conundrum, we think the advantage of a well paved road far exceeds its disadvantages, and this is why all roads must be well constructed for the comfort of travellers. Unfortunately, this is not what we are seeing, as most of our road networks are very bad. But can we blame the government of the day – the answer is simply no – because resources generated by the country in the form of taxes are not enough to solve all the problems in the roads sector.

The current economic condition, which has forced the government to rush to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has even exacerbated the situation. As we put this piece together, the Accra-Tema Motorway, which has fetches a lot of revenue for this country, is in terrible state. Commuters are always complaining about it, yet it has not been fixed because the resources are simply not there.

In our view, therefore, dragging the government to court over the issue, as Dr. Kwabena Donkor is threatening to do, would not solve the problem. Indeed, if the people are to file lawsuits against the government over their poor roads, no government can survive in this country.

The Chronicle is, therefore, advising the Lawmaker to lobby the Road Ministry to have the road he is complaining about fixed. This, we insist, is the way to solve the problem, instead of resorting to court, which, apart from time that will be wasted, can also be a wasteful exercise if the court orders the government to fix the road and yet the resources are not there to execute the project.