Donkorkrom residents demonstrate over deplorable roads in Afram Plains

According to the residents who participated in the protest, the exercise was to register their displeasure over the current state of roads in the twin districts of Kwahu Afram Plains North and South and to highlight some challenges the state of the road is creating.

The protest was marked by a peaceful march through the principal streets of Donkorkrom.

The protest ended at the District Assembly, where a petition was presented to the District Chief Executive to be forwarded to the seat of government in Accra.

"The Kwahu Afram Plains enclave occupies one-third of the Eastern Region. It covers a land area of 5,040 square kilometres and an estimated population of 200,000. Kwahu Afram Plains is considered the bread basket of Ghana, and its contribution to food security in the country cannot be over-emphasized.

"The provision of Social Services, Agriculture Development, Security and Economic activities hinge on a good road network. It makes a crucial contribution to economic development and growth as well as promotes social welfare. Notwithstanding the strategic role Kwahu Afram Plains plays in the area of food security in the Eastern Region and Ghana in general, the main road linking the area to other parts of the country has not seen any major repairs in a long while. Our petition seeks to draw authority's attention to the adverse impact of the deplorable roads on Health care delivery, Economic activities, security and our demands from the District Assembly and the Government of Ghana," portions of the petition said.

Among some of the challenges highlighted in the petition as a result of the bad state of the roads include the impact on health care delivery, economic activities and security.

Read the full petition below:

THE PRESIDENT

REPUBLIC OF GHANA

FLAGSTAFF HOUSE

Thru;

THE DISTRICT CHIEF EXECUTIVE

KWAHU AFRAM PLAINS NORTH

DONKORKROM

PETITION ON DEPLORABLE ROADS IN KWAHU AFRAM PLAINS NORTH

The Kwahu Afram Plains enclave occupies one- third of the Eastern Region. It covers a land area of 5,040 square kilometres and an estimated population of 200,000.

Kwahu Afram Plains is considered the bread basket of Ghana and its contribution to food security in the country cannot be over-emphasized.

The provision of Social Services, Agriculture development, Security and Economic activities hinge on a good road network. It makes a crucial contribution to economic development and growth as well as promotes social welfare.

Notwithstanding the strategic role Kwahu Afram Plains plays in the area of food security in the Eastern Region and Ghana in general, the main road linking the area to other parts of the country has not seen any major repairs in a long while. Our petition seeks to draw authority's attention to the adverse impact of the deplorable roads on Health care delivery, Economic activities, Security and our demands from the District Assembly and the Government of Ghana.

HEALTH CARE DELIVERY

The deplorable roads in Kwahu Afram Plains are adversely impacting health care delivery as patients referred to a higher health facility within and outside the area experience worsened medical conditions due to the bad roads vehicle ply to get patients to access referral services.

In addition, the deplorable roads have resulted in the frequent breakdown of the two ambulances that provide emergency and cheaper transport service to patients. This phenomenon contributes to high mortality rate in the area because patient and their relatives find it difficult to get the means to access referral service outside Kwahu Afram Plains.

The only District Hospital serving the two districts in Kwahu Afram Plain has no permanent medical doctor because all those who accept to do housemanship here refuse permanent posting due to the poor road network. Clearly, this has resulted in a serious health crisis which must be addressed to avert mass death in the area.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

Kwahu Afram Plains used to be one of the food baskets in the country up until the 2000s when our major highway road deteriorated. The deterioration of the road led to farmers' inability to transport farm produce to market centres for traders to buy and hence the perishing of these foodstuffs. The few who got to the markets also became very expensive and traders who come to Kwahu Afram Plains are charged exorbitant transportation fares by drivers due to the nature of the road. These high transportation fares are later passed on to the consumer, making the cost of doing business in the area very high so they stopped coming into the district to patronize our farm produce.

The transportation sector is not left out of this quagmire. Transport owners and Commercial vehicle drivers incur huge maintenance cost, fuel and running costs due to the deteriorated nature of the road. These costs are further passed on to travelers or passengers by way of abnormal transport fares which has become a great disincentive for travelling in Kwahu Afram Plains. More also, the only sector that has provided substantial number of employment to the youth (OKADA BUSINESS) is on its knees particularly in DONKORKROM because Okada riders have to spend all their earnings on maintenance making it difficult if not impossible to meet their target sales to their owners. A collapse of this sector due to a poor road network could cost the area dearly by way of an increase in unemployment, crime and social vices because 'the devil always finds work for the idle hands'.

SECURITY

The surge in armed robbery cases in Kwahu Afram Plains is tonic by the bad nature of our roads. The frequent and consistent armed robbery results from the deplorable state of the roads which slows drivers' movement allowing the robbers to attack them with ease. Several human lives have been lost due to these rampant armed robbery attacks, others are still in a state of shock and psychological trauma from such experiences. The two District Assemblies have to incur huge costs to provide security for residents of Kwahu Afram Plains and travellers while we lack certain basic social amenities. We believe that fixing of this road will help stop the frequent robberies and help save lives.

We are by this petition appealing to the PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC through the DISTRICT CHIEF EXECUTIVE who is the REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PRESIDENT in the District, to as a matter of urgency liaise with the appropriate institutions to Fix Donkorkrom township road and the main highway from Ekye to Agordeke.

We wish to also state without any equivocation that if nothing is done about these concerns, we will embark on a series of unabated demonstrations to express our indignation and displeasure at deplorable road conditions in Kwahu Afram Plains.

Thank you

Yours Faithfully,

……………………….

OFFEI NKANSAH

(CONVENER )

………………………

KASSIM M. KABORE

(PRO)

………………………

AGYEKUM DANIEL

(ORGANIZER)