In the second year of constructing roads, residents and commuters of the Apegusu-Mpakadan Road in the Eastern Region are reeling over what they say is the deplorable road network which is negatively affecting every area of their lives and businesses.
A predominantly farming community, the residents say the commercial motorcycle comes as the major source of transportation on the road on a daily basis as their road network has been in the slum state for several decades.
The road is expected to serve as the major source of transportation to the community.
According to them, it has never seen bitumen during its existence, leaving it un-motorable with non-existent drainage systems.
Portions of the road experience heavy flooding during heavy rains, leaving drivers and passengers stranded at the mercy of the violent floodwaters.
The commuters in an interview with GhanaWeb said vehicles have stopped operating between the two communities, making transportation to and from Mpakadan herculean.
The onset of the okada operators has therefore come as a relief for the users of the stretch.
Francis Oguamenah is an opinion leader in the Apegusu community. He decried the current state of the road.
“The road has been a hectic means of transporting people to and from Apegusu and Mpakadan as well,” he said.
According to him despite persistent appeals for the road to be fixed, “it has now gotten to a point where it is actually out of use because when you see an okada transporting a pregnant woman to the hospital and back, it will amaze you to see such a person on a motorbike.”
He accused politicians of failing to solve the problem despite several electoral promises.
He said, “Any election year, they come promising us that they’ll fix this road in no time. Government comes and government goes and nobody has ever attempted fixing the road for us.”
With the situation usually worsened by the rains, his appeal is for the government to as a matter of urgency fix the road.
Another opinion leader in the two communities and a member of the Apegusu-Mpakadan Railway Committee, Raymond Affum also expressed regret that despite persistent appeals to authorities, no work has started on the stretch.
According to him, lives have been lost in an attempt to transport sick residents on the stretch to the nearest hospitals.
“We have lost some lives carrying some sick persons to Apegusu to get to the main car to Akosombo,” he said. “We have not seen any signs of fixing this road.”
One of the commercial motorcycle operators, Alex, has been operating for two years now. According to him, they suffer bodily pains riding on the bumpy road on a daily basis.
“The road is not good so as we are driving the motorbike, our waists have been paining us due to the potholes, hence we want the government to come and do the road for us,” he lamented adding that they spend a fortune fixing damaged parts of their motorbikes due to the bad nature of the road.
An obviously peeved truck driver who gave his name as Evans said, “Our road is not good. I’m from Asutuare, I have to use 1 hour, 30 minutes to reach the yard but I can spend three hours more, that is the problem that we’re facing here.”
According to him, using the road during the rainy season is a nightmare, and called on the government to come to fix the road for them.
Another regular user of the road, Dela, said she uses the road on Tuesdays and Sundays on her way to church at Mpakadan.
According to her, the situation has resulted in high transportation costs on the road.
She said, “The road is very bad and full of potholes. The situation is worse during the rainy season and you have no choice but to use the 'okada' which also struggles to take you to your destination. We are therefore appealing to the government to come do it for us.”
The District-Chief-Executive for Asuogyaman, Samuel Kwame Agyekum in a previous interview with GhanaWeb on the state of roads in the district said contracts had been awarded for construction of the Marine-Enyaasi, Apegusu Junction-Mpakadan, and Osubin-Anum Boso roads. No works are however ongoing on these roads.
Appeal for a station
Meanwhile, the okada operators have appealed for a station to conduct their activities. According to them, the space on which they operated has been taken over by elders of the Apegusu community which has forced them to relocate to the opposite end of the road.
The situation, they lament is dangerous for both riders and passengers as they cross the highway towards the rough road.
“Previously, this is where we operated from but the Apegusu elders said the place belongs to them so they took it from us to put up a filling station, and now we don’t have anywhere to park. On one occasion, a rider was nearly knocked down in the process of crossing the road,” one of them told GhanaWeb.
They, therefore, appealed to authorities to address their concerns by putting up a bus terminal for them.
