Great things to come in the rail sector

A GNA Colour by Benjamin Mensah

Accra, Oct 29, GNA- When a coverless truck in the shape of a coach arrived on the precincts of the Tema Main Harbour on Thursday morning, the strong and able-bodied shouted out jubilantly and got off as if they had won a war.


In the background was a cassette rendition of songs and praises in typical charismatic style, as dignitaries sat under cone shaped canopies awaiting the inauguration of a resurrected rail service.


After over a decade and half when the rail link between the nation's capital Accra and its major port city of Tema was severed, the hearts of the people could only gladden that this vital sub-urban rail link has become operational.


Government achieved that feat through the combined efforts of the Ghana Railway Company Limited and the Ghana Railway Development Authority.


An improved network in the country would bring on board innovative market based solutions to access affordable products and services pertaining to jobs and market opportunities and further economic empowerment of the producer in the hinterland and the farmer through market linkages.

The Accra-Tema sub-urban Railway Service was reborn and President John Evans Atta Mills, the Father of the Nation was to perform the inaugural ceremony and cut the sod for the extension works to begin on the Tema Railway Station to the Japan Motors stretch of the railway line.


There was singing, there was dancing, the atmosphere was ecstatic. Traditional rulers from Tema and environs came along; railway workers who had been out of work due to the demise of a number of rail tracks were there.


So were Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Government Functionaries and residents and workers and sellers for the ceremony. A national anthem heralded the arrival of the President, who wore a designer white long-sleeved shirt, with light brown trouser and black shoes to match, and white cap at the head. Other dignitaries wore tee-shirts with the inscription "Revamping Railways for a Better Ghana."


The Wala Afoor Cultural Troupe hit the drum, after which he enthralled the dancer, clothed in rich Ghanaian kente cloth, and caught in the throbs of the rhythmic sounds of the high brimmed stem moved to the Presidential dais, and signed up to invoke the heavens to bless historic day.


The President could not hide his smile as the lady in the rich royal clothes, with tiara in cowries that bounded the beautiful tuft of hair, did the kete dance.

It was a graceful dance that was complemented by another lone lady dancer when the Central Regional Police Band trumpeted the joyous day in another musical interlude as different speeches were read to mark the day.


President Mills had a word for his audience: he called for national unity devoid of politics of insults and vituperations from across the political divide that has seethed into the national fibre, gave praise where it was due for the work so far done to revamp the rail sector. He observed that the resuscitation of the service was started by the past Kufour Administration, and called for continuity of nation programmes started by earlier Governments.


With fanfare, the President inaugurated the Service, a cut the sod for extension, then went on an inaugural ride from Tema to Accra, in the six hundred capacity Diesel Multiple Unit train painted in the national colours of red, yellow and green.


The train railed through the Asoprochonaa Station near Sakumono, Batsonaa station near Teshie, and Maateman, through the residential areas of Airport, Dzorwulu and Achimota, as people came out and waved at the President and his entourage in the chuku chaka.


The wagon reversed and snaked its way to Kantamato terminal, as a crowd surged and gave the President a rousing welcome. He gave hope to the people; Government would not betray the trust Ghanaians had reposed in it and would always be there for Ghanaians to live up to the expectations for which they were voted into power. He looked that them and was glad. 29 Oct 10