Road users on the Kenyase-Abirem-Antoa road are resorting to nose masks and other coverings—not because of a return to COVID-19 safety protocols – but to shield themselves from the incessant dust on the abandoned road project.
“The dust is our biggest nightmare, and we can no longer wear white clothes,” says Adnan Suleiman, a commercial driver who transports passengers from Abirem to the Kumasi Central Market (Aboabo Station).
He laments that the current state of the road is taking a toll on his business because passengers cannot endure sitting in their vehicles at the loading point while waiting for others due to the overwhelming dust.
Suleiman is one of many road users enduring the challenges of this stretch, where a road project commenced months before the recently concluded 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections.
Contractors worked tirelessly to meet a deadline promised by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to address the area’s poor road conditions and secure votes in the constituency, the party’s stronghold. “As if the road was going to be finished and tarmac for us,” said Jamila Abubakar, a store’s goalkeeper near the road. “But the entrepreneurs were packed three days before the elections.”
Jamila shares that her 51 -year -old mother, who has a small boutique for selling provisions, was admitted to a nearby health facility.
She attributes her mother’s disease to unbearable dust.
Companies along the road are struggling with the daily nuisance of dust. The articles in the stores are constantly covered and the Harmattan season has worsened the situation. Despite major drainage ditches and culverts being constructed, workers left the site before election day, leaving road users to contend with dust and mud during rainy periods.
On other connecting roads, such as the Abirem-Nwamase section, construction of drainage ditches has not even begun. Work on a bridge linking Abirem and Antoa communities has also been halted.
This scenario is not new. Similar events occurred before the 2020 general elections, and work on the same road was halted immediately after the elections. At the time, road users accused the NPP-led administration of cheating and neglecting residents of Kwabre East township.
Although the government has made efforts to renovate some roads in the area and improve others through the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), road users, who have had bad roads for years, are demanding a long-term solution.
Motorists like Adnan Suleiman say the New Patriotic Party-led government has failed the people of Kwabre East.
He insists that the next National Democratic Congress government must investigate why successive improvements to the Abirem-Antoa road have remained incomplete. Suleiman added: “Those who were awarded the contract under the NPP government and failed to complete the project must be held accountable. If need be, they should refund the money so that it can be used for the intended purpose.” There are several other road projects abandoned during the election year in Kwabre East Municipality like the Abirem-Abuoso road which are causing more harm to road users than good.
Source: Citinewsroom
