Residents of Juapong threaten to block train passage if overpass is not built

Correspondence from Eastern Region

Some 3,000 residents of communities dotted along the Juapong section of the 97.6km Tema-Mpakadan railway line are threatening to block the passage of trains through the communities if authorities failed to heed their pleas to construct an overpass across the facility to enable them cross from one side of the rail line to the other.

Members of the communities affected by the rail activities including Ebledokuikope, Domekope and Torgome, all Suburbs of Juapong in the North-Tongu District of the Volta Region during a demonstration through the principal streets of the town said the construction of the facility has, aside from the lack of an overpass to transport them over the rail line has also destroyed their only source of water.

The people also say a land donated to them by the chief of the area to put up a health facility remains inaccessible while compensations promised them have still not been paid.

The community members clad in red armbands chanted war songs amidst wielding placards with various messages some of which read: ‘3000 residents left over the railway lines, ‘still no compensation for our lands and crops’, ‘Ghana Highway Authority, we’re calling for an overpass’, ‘is Volta Region not part of mother Ghana?’ amongst others, marched through the streets of Juapong to register their displeasure over the situation.

Many residents including school children were seen struggling to descend and ascend the borders of the railway line from one side to the other.

Delivering a strongly-worded press statement after the demonstration on Thursday, 2nd March, 2023, Mr. John Kwasi Adjaho, one of the organizers accused the Ministry of Railways and the Ghana Highway Authority of refusing to heed the plea of the residents prior to the construction of the railway line.

He said, “During the construction of the lines, we demanded that an overpass is provided like other places but sadly, the Ministry of Railway and Ghana Highways Authority refused to do so,” he said.

Mr. Ahadjo added that similar overpasses have been built at nearby Mpakadan and Kpong Quarters, suburbs of Asuogyaman and Lower Manya Krobo Districts respectively in the Eastern Region and wondered why their communities have been denied with the preposterous explanation that the trains would be carrying double containers and hence the overpasses cannot be constructed.

Registering their resentment over what they termed as unfair treatment, Mr. Adjaho said members of the community were threatened with arrests and subsequent implications as members of the separatists and secessionist group, the Western Togoland, a threat he claimed instilled fear in them.

He said, “We want to send these words of warning to the government that we cannot be deceived and treated as if we’re not Ghanaians, also, we cannot be deceived that we’ll be arrested as members of the Trans Volta Togoland. The fact is that during the construction of the rail lines, we tried every legitimate means to make sure that the overpass is provided but we were foolishly threatened that we’d be arrested as members of the Trans Volta Togoland.”

Threatening to block trains from passing when the line opens for operations if their concerns were not addressed, the residents vowed: “We warn that until the overpass is constructed, the ministry of railways and the government must forget that the train will pass through our side of the lines because [we] will not allow it to pass through.”

Chief of Juapong, Torgbe Ahadzi III gave the authorities two weeks to respond to their pleas or face a stiff opposition to the operations of the train as countless demonstrations would be staged against the activity.

The residents also accused the railway ministry of failing to provide an alternative source of water for the community after construction works destroyed pipelines serving water to the area.

Queen mother of Juapong, Mama Borly II said the women and children were being forced to walk long distances across the rail lines to fetch water from other sources at exorbitant costs.

She added that the absence of the overpass also made crossing from one side to the other very difficult for the young and elderly.

“Look at these small, small children, how can they cross?” She quizzed. “The women cannot cross to fetch water, they are falling down, the pregnant women cannot pass, even the old men who have been passing small, small cannot cross and farm so they should come to our aid.

“Today, the government should hear our voice and come to our aid, we’re giving them the last warning,” warned the queen mother.