Edzorna Mensah’s ‘charge sheet’ to the Ketu South MCE

It is unarguable fact that the road network is the most significant of all public properties and for this and many other reasons, I would like to pen down some of the inner-city roads in the Municipality that have been begging for attention for several decades now.

Not to bore you with details on the benefits of worthy roads commuters, it is however imperative to point out the fact that it takes good roads to access social activities, health facilities, and education services on time and to some extent help eradicate life-threatening poverty.

Certainly, good roads open up more areas and stimulate economic and social development, no doubt that the refurbished Aflao-Accra highway has tremendously reduced traveling hours on that stretch.

To illustrate the need to pay serious attention to inner-city roads or roads generally has been summarized in the Appraisal Report on Tema-Aflao Rehabilitation Road Project (Akatsi-Aflao Section), July 2001.

The Executive Summary of the report noted that The Tema-Aflao Road is an important international road in the South-East of Ghana which formed part of the Trans-West African Highway.

The report further stated that “The area of influence is in the form of a triangle, formed by the Tema-Ho, Ho-Aflao trunk roads and the coastline Tema-Aflao.

The triangle covers eight political/administrative districts in the Greater Accra and Volta Regions”.

It accentuates how the Volta Region is close to neighboring countries, “the road links Ghana with her Eastern ECOWAS trading partners, especially Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Niger. It is in this respect that the Tema-Aflao Road project proposal has focused specifically on the impact the project will have on Regional Integration and Cooperation as its main cross-cutting theme”.

The appraisal report was straight and laid bare the detailed and dilapidated nature of the roads and its negative impact on socioeconomic and human life… “the road has deteriorated so much that it imposes serious traveling difficulties, high transport costs and safety problems. These problems have contributed to reduced agricultural production and industrial activities and also constrained the development of the tourist industry that could otherwise facilitate socio-economic development and reduce poverty”.

Respectfully, I write as a concerned inherent in Ketu South to welcome you as a new political head to man The Assembly as The Municipal Chief Executive Officer (MCE) in charge of IGF and other revues for development of the area, Kudos, but brace yourself for the staggering tasks ahead of you in the border city.

I wish to restrict myself to the road network because when we have good roads business and other economic activities will definitely flourish and of Course many youths will return home to help revamp the local economy.

The geographical location of The Municipality on Ghana’s map and its proximity to Lome, the Capital of the Togolese Republic has made it so exceptional and it will make a lot of sense if the central government represented by you pays extra attention to inner-city roads to make them motorable.

Is it intriguing to note that, The Municipality since its inception has single-track roads or one-lane roads which are not wide enough to allow vehicles to pass by one another so easily on busy days: Aflao through Denu Junction to Accra, and from Denu Junction through Savietula-Dabala to Accra.

In spite of the fact that the Municipality has about three asphalt inner-city single lanes within one of the five Zonal Councils, Aflao Urban is too insignificant, and it does not befit the people of the twenty-eighth (28) most populous settlement in Ghana, where all hard currencies are readily available on streets for big-time transactions.

Due to bad and no alternative routes from Denu Junction to other communities like Hedzranawo, Adafienu to Blekuso on The Aflao-Keta Highway, it brings unacceptable vehicular and human traffic jams on Hedranawo/Denu Market days.

The same traffic jam occurs on Agbozume and Aflao market days posing havoc to drivers, travelers, and other road users; and sometimes leads to unnecessary accidents.

Historically, the present-day Ketu South Municipal Assembly was known as Ketu South District, one of the eighteen districts originally part of the then-larger Ketu District created from the former Anlo District Council on 10th March 1989.

On 29th February 2008 Ketu North District was curved from it, the remaining portion has been renamed as Ketu South District and later elevated to the current status of Municipality on 28th June 2012 with Denu as its capital town but regrettably, nothing has been added when it comes to roads except to say rehabilitation works that were carried out on the exiting Tema-Aflao Road, Akatsi–Aflao Section to be precise some years ago.

Honorable, I respectfully submit the following roads to your office for urgent attention. Your Municipality needs Asphalt roads where bitumen, a petroleum product, is used to glue together the sand and crushed rock, and Concrete one for some special areas.

These Roads:

1. Agbozme through Egboshime to Dodorkope
2. Agbozume Police Station through Klikor Agblorgame, Amen Junction Amedzikorpe to Kpoglo
3. Agbozume through Wagbato to Sonuto
4. Agbozume through Afuta to Srohume
5. Agbozume Council to Taskcorner
6. Agbozume through Zion, Bayikor to Kpedzakorpe
7. Denu Junction through Adina to Havedzi
8. Dentu junction through Post Office to the Beach
9. Aflao Police Station through Diamod Cement to Akpokloe/Gakli
10. Wudoaba to Diamond Cement
11. Aveme Junction Afedido—Komla Dumor Road
12. Aflao Awakor to the Beach-Gomashie
13. Korpeyia to Agbogbome
14. Nogokpo through Agbevekorpe, Gabadakorpe to Kpedzakorpe Basic School
15. Klikor inner-city roads
16. Agbozume inner-city roads
17. Aflao Wego inner-city Roads
18. Other linking roads to beaches, lagoon side, Hotels, restaurants, and tourism sites within Municipality

Mr. MCE, if you kindly get these roads done and history will never forget you and your generation. This is possible because it takes only commitment because finance can never be an excuse looking at volumes of revenues Ketu South produces from the main Border, Segbe Border, Beat 9, and other entry points plus Assembly’s Internally Generated Fund (IGF). In fact, both Denu and Agbozume Markets are great sources of revenue.

The request of you to deliver as a necessity for your people on the road sector is not out of place because, you are an agent of development with resources made available to you, not to talk of premix fuel money.

Ketu South citizens are justified to demand from you as the representative of the central President in line with Section (20) sub-section (2) (d) of the Local Governance Act, 2016, Act 936, which say…“be the chief representative of the Central Government in the District”.

Urban Roads Department-Ketu South

I shall definitely return to demand answers from the Urban Roads Department of the Assembly as to why the recent speed humps on Atsiwuta and Nogokpo section of the highway are done without recourse to skill and quality.

At least the old ones that came with the original road could serve as a benchmark for whoever was authorized to do the work. It is good to construct those ramps to check speeding and careless driving and riding but it must meet the globally accepted standard for Christ’s sake.

Those ramps are dangerous and I’m tempted to believe that the authorities, the supervisors, and the contractor have done more harm to cars and people than good.

By Edzorna Francis Mensah,

[email protected]

The writer is a Journalist