Kodjonya Asafoatse, Assemblyman raise alarm over 'accident prone' damaged roads

Correspondence from Eastern Region

Asafoatse of Kodjonya in the Manya Krobo Traditional Area in the Eastern Region is worried that portions of the main Trom Junction-Somanya-Kpong highway pose threats to motorists, passengers, pedestrians and residents.

Significant portions of the 15.8-kilometre asphalt overlay constructed in 2016 have already seen worrying deterioration with gaping potholes visible on the stretch.

At Kodjonya, parts of the road panning over thirty yards, have caved into the gutter very close to adjoining homes. This poses danger to both residents and pedestrians who risk being rammed into by oncoming vehicles.

Nene Ayerteye Bana III, Asafoatse of Kodjonya said persistent calls on officials of the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly to fix the broken drainages have not yielded any response yet.

“Our road has deteriorated for the past four months and I was at the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly to inform them. They have done nothing about it with the excuse that they were yet to receive their share of the Common Fund and that it'd be done once the Common Fund arrived," said the Asafoatse.

The Asafoatse who said the explanation did not go down well with him said the Assembly should be forthright and tell them if it's not in the position to repair the road so he'll mobilize members of the community to fix it.

The traditional ruler was unequivocal that he would take action against the Assembly if it failed to act on the concerns of the people and an accident claims any lives as a result.

He said, "The road is deteriorating so I want to find out from them if they won't [repair it] they should tell us so we can contribute to fix it if need be but if they fail to do it and a vehicle kills anybody as a result of that, I won't agree," he warned.

Nene Ayerteye Bana III who accused public administrators of only acting when disaster strikes accused the MCE of the area, Simon Kweku Tetteh, officials of the Assembly and government officials who use the road of seeing the neglect but failing to act on their demands.

Assemblyman for Kodjonya-Menekpo Electoral Area, Grabriel Tettey also recounted his concerns to GhanaWeb.

“When the issue first came up in November, I reported it to the Municipal Assembly. I took pictures of it and sent it to the MCE and the Municipal Engineer as well as the Regional Engineer,” said Gabriel Tettey, adding that the officials promised to attend to the problem as soon as possible.



“What they told me was that they have seen it and would factor it into the speed ramp project and fix the gutter but up till now, we are yet to see anything.”

According to the Assemblyman, he followed up with the Municipal Assembly in February this year who assured him that repair works would be carried out on the damaged portions of the road and drainages through a budget proposal from the national headquarters through the Regional Ghana Highway Authority.

However, there has been no feedback since then.

The situation, he noted was a matter of concern for the community since the highway is a link road to the Eastern Corridor, adding that on weekends and on market days, the area is congested and this is worsened by the limestone haulage trucks.

He described the situation as life-threatening for road users including residents, pedestrians and drivers and called on the Municipal Assembly to immediately attend to the road.

The Municipal Roads Engineer, Mr Opoku Agyemang when contacted by GhanaWeb confirmed the fears raised by the Assemblyman and Asafoatse but blamed delays in the approval of budgets for the maintenance works on the Kodjonya situation and other road networks in the municipality for the delay.

According to him, the problem as well as similar ones identified on portions of other roads would be addressed as soon as budget allocations were approved.