Pokuase Again!!!

Pokuase lies on the northern part of the national capital Accra, along the Accra – Kumasi trunk road. When exiting Accra to Nsawam, it is about 800m from Ofankor barrier on the right. Similarly, when entering Accra, right after Amasaman 300m on your left is Pokuase.

Pokuase is within the Ga West Municipality of the Trobu-Amasaman Constituency of the Greater Accra Region. It is a town with lots of promise. But in the face of these assurances lay loads of challenges; some induce while others are natural due to the fact that Pokuase is beneath the Akuapem range. The town is resident to many who are escaping from the hustles and bustles of the central business district of the National Capital, Accra.

Along the busting promise Pokuase stocks, there is the other side of the town that will quite amaze you. The level of laxity and relaxed nature in the planning of the Pokuase Township tells stocks and stones. Pokuase serves as the stop-over for satellite villages such as Mayera- Osofiaman, Adusa- Quarters. Also Domeabra, Dedeman, Nsakyi and Homedakrom are other villages which use Pokuase as transit point.

Nonetheless, the development of the town leaves much to desire. The overall planning of Pokuase is not worth a tale to be told to many who might prefer to behold it. A case in point is the gutter being constructed in the town. While one constructor creditably delivered an exquisite work, the other only could manage a pack of insults to the folks who stood akimbo for a play out of a useless combo box. Without commissioning of the project, the new gutter had to be dug out for reconstruction. Why did the Pokuase development committee or unit committee if any exist at all, allow the goat they will carry on their shoulder to walk in the mud? Before the reconstruction of the gutter, any time there is down pour, homes get flooded. The ongoing expansions of the shoddy work of the short sighted constructor of the footpath kneel deep gutter has been ended abruptly. It should continue to the new station else the current effort will be next to nothing Come to think of it, flooding in Pokuase?

It will do us all a lot of good if the truth is told to the faces of those who lapsed in their duty to supervise the construction of the gutters in Pokuase unreservedly, which has led to this disarray. The lack of commitment on the part of the elders in relation to development projects is the bane of the town.

Sanitation, which has become the Achill heels of the country igniting the cholera epidemic, is another hurdle Pokuase must work hard to scale herself over. The refuse dump is right within the heart of the town. The choke smell which emanate from the refuse and public place of convenience is unbearable. Both works in tandem to make commuters who go to the station suffer. Most often, the refuse is set on fire, which virtually pollutes the air. The place of convenience shares common wall with homes. The main station also has some sanitation minuses. The bush behind the Pokuase market sees open defecation; thereby exposing food items to infection. Why do we always prefer curative to preventive measures? This applies to Afiaman, where the public place of convenience is sandwiched between domestic residences. Are we safe?

This write up is not calculated to embarrass or cast slur on the image of the Pokuase and the Elders of the Town, but to bring to the fore the neglect it is facing. The condition of the internal roads of Pokuase whenever there is a heavy shower is a sorry sight. What purpose are the gutters to serve as compared to the roads which are reduced to dams? This makes maneuvering in the town tedious. Why can Pokuase not be made a better place? The area within the old station should be looked at critically; because a little rainstorm and the volume of water that form a pool there is disgusting. Is someone reading?

Pokuase and its environs has become home to a lot of people – Members of Parliament, retired Security Officers and Multilateral Organisational staff - hence there is every need for all hands to be placed on deck and shoulders put to the wheel to propel the town to the status it so serve.

*Patrick Twumasi*

*(0209045931) *