Drivers To Hit Streets ...Over Road

Motorists plying the Dome-Kwabenya road in Accra have threatened to embark on a one-week demonstration in May to register their strong resentment on the deplorable nature of the road. According to the visibly angry drivers, they cannot fathom why they pay daily tolls to the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU) branch union at Dome-Kwabenya and yet the road is still not fixed. Today�s painstaking investigations revealed that each commercial driver, predominantly trotro drivers, pay GH�6.00 daily and any driver that refuses to pay will not be allowed to work ply on the said road. The drivers in their own small contribution have been filling the potholes with sand for the past three years, a solution which hardly lasts due to the rains. From St. Johns, a suburb of Accra, to the Dome township, through to Kwabenya and other neighbouring communities, is un-tarred. This situation, the drivers said, has resulted in the creation of deep pot-holes in the middle of the road, making traffic situation very terrible since they [the drivers] have to drive carefully to avoid breakdown of their vehicles. Vehicles moving to and from adjoining communities leave thick fumes of dust in their trail, which hampers drivers visibility and comes with serious health concerns to pedestrians. Speaking to this reporter, the drivers who did not mince words blamed successive governments for their failure to solve what they called a �small stretch of road� in the capital city-Accra. Fuming with anger, they called on the Mahama administration to quickly fix the road before they [the drivers] make the country ungovernable for Mahama and his NDC. Continuing, the drivers stressed �because Dome-Kwabenya is a stronghold of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that is why President Mahama has refused to show concern about our plight.� �Our bodies ache after plying the road, if the road is fixed we would be happy because when it rains we cannot see the road and end up falling into a ditch,� one driver retorted. The bad condition of the road does not only affect motorists, residents also complained that because there are no drains on the road, other people in the community pour waste water on the road. One of the residents said, �People pour water on the road because there are no drains and the drivers splash the water on us and when we complain they insult us.� Residents also noted that the lack of proper drainage system on the road results in constant flooding after a downpour.