The Member of Parliament for Upper Manya Krobo in the Eastern Region Bismark Tetteh Nyarko has organized communal labor to repair portions of deteriorated Koforidua to Asesewa highway.
Residents used manpower to clear heaps of eroded sand on the road, weed the narrow portions, and filled some portholes to reduce accidents.
The MP Bismark Tetteh told the media that “I am a first-time MP and my government is not in power. Until the government of the day attends to us then we will have to resort to this communal labor. We don’t have the money now but our brains and energy that we can use to develop our community and are exactly what we are going to do. We are not going to wait for the Ghana highway and Minister comes here. When an accident happens it is our people that suffer most. But we plead to the government to fix the road for us”.
The 55Km Koforidua to Asesewa road constructed in the 1990s by Jerry John Rawlings’ government has deteriorated and become perilous for commuters.
The road is inundated with potholes while many portions are washed away by erosion. Weeds and eroded sand have narrowed the road making it dangerous for two vehicles to drive past each other.
The situation has led to many preventable accidents involving both vehicles and motorcycles.
Some drivers who ply the road lamented that “the road is bad. The potholes are widening while weeds taken over the road. Our vehicles have been damaging now and then. Accidents have been happening as a result so we are pleading with the government to construct the road for us”.
Upper Manya Krobo District is a food basket district that produces many farm produce. Market women from across the country used to buy from farmers on the famous Asesewa market but are now reluctant and apprehensive.
Some residents say governments have neglected the road hence the current deplorable state. They called on President Akufo Addo to fulfill a promise made to the people of upper Manya in 2017 that, roads in the area will be constructed and tarred for voting for then NPP Parliamentary candidate Joseph Tetteh to become MP.
“When President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo won the election in 2016 he came to thank the people of upper Manya because that was the first time we had given them a seat in the Dangme areas. On the ASEC football field, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo mentioned categorically that because we have let them had first Parliamentary seat within that first year of his tenure he will construct the road from Koforidua to Asesewa. Come and see the field the chiefs everybody was happy. So we are reminding him” Kwasi Larweh, a former Assemblymember said.
“This area is a farming area so the road is affecting farmers. Buyers are no more coming in their numbers to the Asesewa market because doing the bad road” Dademantse Daniel Tetteh Kpabi said.
