My terrible experience on the poor Yendi-Chereponi road

The Yendi -Chereponi road in the Northern Region is such in a terrible state that anybody using it will have a story to tell.

Following rainfall for almost two weeks, some streams and other water bodies have overflowed their banks making many roads in the region making them inaccessible.

Several communities and villages have been cut off due to the torrential rains.

As the Citi News North-Eastern corridor reporter, I decided to visit the Chereponi district and the journey was such a terrible experience.

On the morning of Tuesday the 4th of September, I left Bimbilla with the eastern corridor road in my mind because there have been several reports on the sorry state of the road.

The first marker of its terrible state was at Makayili where a truck has fallen off blocking the road diversion created by the contractors, making it difficult for other vehicles to pass.

This situation has compelled some residents in Makayili to come out in their numbers with pickaxes and shovels to spread heaps of gravel that the contractors had used to block the tarred road.

At Lepusi, there were more than ten vehicles at both ends of the bridge and people were busy filling the place with stones to enable the vehicles to pass. It was still raining, and I got to Yendi thinking that I was now on a better road.

On the Yendi-Chereponi road, portions of it were rocky, potholed and muddy. I got to a part where I had to ride through water because two streams had cut across the road spanning 50 meters. The level of the water was deep, and at the midpoint, the engine of my motorbike went off sparking some internal panic.

I tried pushing the motorbike out of the water, succeeded but the engine could not start again. I was left stranded without an option for close to an hour. I decided to call my mechanic at Tamale for assistance, but he told me to get another person to check the bike for me. I couldn’t find anyone so I opened it myself, I was shocked at the amount of water in there, it was as if someone had poured a bucket full into it.

I waited for it to dry and thanks to Allah the engine started again after I fixed it back. I got to Chereponi amidst the heavy downpour.

At Chereponi, some residents told Citi News that the bad nature of the road had affected them as their primary occupation was trading. They told me that because of the nature of the road, traders from other parts of the country and even the neighboring Togo could not come to buy their goods.

They made a passionate appeal to the government to quickly come to their aid by constructing the road.

Meanwhile the District Chief Executive for Chereponi, Tahidu Abdul Razak told Citi News that the road has been awarded on contract and hopes that the portions would be fixed.

Until that time motorists and other users of the road will have to continue to endear the difficulties on that stretch of the road.

When Citi News used the road, there was no sign of a contractor working on the road.