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Hundreds of people from the Kusaug Community in the Upper East Region have staged a massive demonstration over the snail-paced construction of the Bolgatanga-Bawku-Pulmakom road.

The disillusioned protesters, comprising farmers, teachers, health workers, market men and women, who petitioned President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo through the Pusiga District Chief Executive, Zuberu Abdullai, accused government of being pitiless on travelers who forge through the precarious road to transact business in and outside the region.

Amidst heavy security presence, the youth marched to the Pusiga District Assembly to deliver a petition to the government on the dreadful road network, while holding placards with inscriptions, some of which read: "Mr. President fix the road for us, "the road is our cocoa", "We have been deceived for long", among others.

The recent massive protest in Pusiga is the third of its kind after the New Patriotic Party-led administration took over the helm of affairs of the country after unseating the John Mahama and his National Democratic Congress-led government at the 2016 general elections.

The Brazilian Contractor, Queiroz Galvao, who was awarded the contract in 2016 by the former government has abandoned the estimated 600 million Cedis project, and left the project site unannounced following lack of funds to continue the execution.

Presenting their petition to government at Pusiga, the Spokesperson for the disgruntled youth, Jarvis Avoka, said government was insensitive to the plight of the people of the region after several appeals to propel government to expedite the construction of the road to promote socio-economic development yielded no positive results.

According to him, the deplorable 116 kilometre-road had posed health hazards to the people since houses that were close to it continued to endure dust, while some travelers lose their lives through accidents following its devastating state.

In a seemingly belligerent voice, he accused government of neglecting the people in the region, and warned that the youth would continue to remind government of the region's fair share of the national cake, adding the road which linked the region to neighbouring countries needed serious attention.

"Mr. President, the withdrawal from the project site by the Brazilian Contractor has brought us untold hardship as we(road users) now have to commute on risky and extremely dusty diversions exposing us to deadly armed robbery attacks and serious health complications.

"The hopes and aspirations of the idle youth who were engaged as casual workers have been dashed as over 500 casual workers were laid off in the latter part of 2017", said the Spokesman for the angry youth.

They are, therefore, calling on government to prioritize fixing the bad road by releasing enough funds to enable the contractor to continue executing the project.

The youth also vowed that they would intensify registering their displeasure over the perilous road if government did not heed to their pressure, adding that President Nana Akufo-Addo should stick to his promise by taking action to get the road rehabilitated for smooth transportation of goods and services as he promised.

A demonstrator, Imoro Seidu, said the protest was not politically motivated, explaining the youth were only bent on mounting pressure on government to get the road fixed to revive businesses that were stagnant following the deplorable state of the road.

The DCE who received the petition on behalf of government, lauded the youth for being notoriously decorous during the protest and assured that the petition would be dispatched to the president in no time, stressing that their concerns would be treated with the urgency it deserved.

Meanwhile, the youth have pledged their commitment to remain relentless to partner government appointees and the Civil Society Organisations to work for the development of the region in all sectors of the economy.