Hundreds of youth in the Balungo community in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region, have staged a peaceful demonstration to register their displeasure over a broken bridge which has claimed the lives of many road commuters.
They say the collapsed bridge which is now a death trap, has claimed so far six lives, this year.
The recent gory accident occurred on the bridge on Monday August 1, when an articulated truck with registration number 11-GL-1574-BF which was believed to have been travelling from Burkina Faso to Techiman somersaulted, leaving the driver and his mate severely injured.
The injured driver and his mate whose names were not immediately made known to newsmen were rushed to the Bongo District Hospital. They have since been treated and discharged.
This, among other previous accidents on the road compelled the agitated youth to petition the ministry of Roads and Highways to intervene to forestall recurrence.
Presenting the Petition to the Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini via the District Chief Executive, DCE, for Bongo, Alexis Ayamdor, the youth leader, Gregory Nsobila Aselsekonge, said several appeals to the Bongo District Assembly to revive the bridge had fallen on death ears, hence the persistent accidents.
He said although the district assembly had directed Ghana Social Opportunities Project, GSOP, to award the Bongo-Balungu road for construction, it had since been deserted by a private construction company for reasons only best known to it.
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He added the precarious road, coupled with the collapsed bridge had afflicted business activities as many big communities, including Balungo, Namoo and Zorko were cut-off from the district capital, Bongo.
"People from these communities cannot get contact to the district capital because of the deplorable nature of the road", he said, adding business had also become stagnant since people from Yelewongo in Burkina Faso could not also ply the route to transact business in the Bongo market.
The youth also fear torrential rains will worsen the bad road, hence the need for the minister of Roads and Highways to act urgently in that regard.
The youth, however, gave the ministry of Roads and Highways a 10-day ultimatum to fix the road and the bridge, failure, they would go on rampage.
The DCE, Mr. Ayamdor, who received the petition on behalf of the minister, pledged their concern would soon be addressed and asked them to remain restrained.
Source: Francis Dabre Dabang/ email: [email protected]
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