Akufo-Addo Govt Has Failed Us – Kwami Sefa Kayi

Renowned journalist and host of Peace FM morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Kwami Sefa Kayi has bemoaned the ruling government’s inability to construct the Lekma Hospital road; an issue he has been talking about for years.

According to him, “when it comes to the Lekma Hospital road, government has failed us.”

LEKMA Hospital Road

It is an undeniable fact that most roads in the country are in such a deplorable state that they have turned into death traps, ready to snap motorists who dare refuse to drive at a snail’s pace in conformity with the decayed road networks.

Just like many others, driving through the bush road through Tabebiano, Camp-two to the Lekma Hospital is really a nightmare. Unfortunately, it is the only alternative route to residential areas around the Manet Estate, off the Spintex road.

Residents and commuters alike have had cause to complain about the bush road- Tebebiano-Camp Two- Lekma Hospital route, decrying the potholes which keep on expanding in size and depth each second of the day.

Since the potholes seem to have been specially arranged and knitted together, it is highly impossible to avoid plunging into any of them, they bemoan. Persistent rainfalls in Accra recently have also added to the nightmare, especially, when the showers start early in the mornings.

In such periods, many of the roads suddenly turn into muddy streams, becoming slippery and treacherous, such that, one needs to apply all the requisite driving skills to drive through unscathed.

Indeed, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ledzokuku, Dr Okoe Boye, is on record to have stated a couple of months ago that the LEKMA Hospital is teeming with patients for various diseases caused by the bumpy nature of the road. According to him, some residents have had miscarriage and others have contracted asthma due to the constant inhaling of the dust on the bumpy road.

It therefore defies logic why in the face of all these concerns, that particular road and other road networks have been left unattended to by government.

In June last year, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, issued a strong warning to all encroachers standing in the way of the 7.5-kilometre dual carriage road stretching from Teshie-Lascala through the main Spintex Road Junction to the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS).

According to him, works on the road was to begin in six days.

The Minister, who was speaking in an interview during a days working visit with a team of engineers and technocrats from the Urban Roads Department to inspect the road, revealed that the NPP government has made some payment of about GH¢16 million out of the total GH¢35 million outstanding debts owed the contractor by the previous government.

This GH¢62 million contract, he said was signed between government and Malin Investment Company Limited, the construction firm contracted for the project, on 5th July, 2015, and the contractor indicated his seriousness by starting work on 7th July, 2015. The project was expected to have been completed within 24 months from the day of start.

Because the previous government refused to effect payment of monies to aid the contractor to continue his work, the project was stalled in 2016. And for close to two years now, nothing has since been done on the road and it’s affecting the activities of the people in the area.