RESIDENTS ALONG the road stretching from New Dormaa, Koutokorm and Yawhima among others have demonstrated against a stalled road construction project within the Sunyani Municipality.
The demonstrators, made up of youth including taxi and tipper truck drivers and other residents who use the road, complained about the uncompleted and potholed road, which they said is impacting negatively on their livelihoods.
According to them, the 17 kilometre road has taken too long to be completed by the contractor, Sames Company Limited.
The demonstration, which started Monday dawn at Yawhima, a suburb of the Sunyani Municipality, ended at the Bono Regional Coordinating Council where leaders presented a petition to the Bono Regional Minister, Justina Awo Banahene.
To draw attention to the severity of their plight, the demonstrators clad in red apparels blocked the dual carriage road and prevented motorists from plying the road from Bono East (Techiman) to the Bono Regional capital, Sunyani, and vice versa.
It took officers and men from the Sunyani Municipal Police to convince them to allow for the free flow of vehicular traffic.
Some of the placards they carried read, ‘Our chiefs must talk’, ‘Our roads are life’, ‘Yawhima-Koutokrom Deserves Better’, ‘Our roads are basic needs’, among others.
Speaking to media persons following the demonstration, some of the aggrieved residents said the bad road has affected businesses.
“Because the road is full of potholes, taxi drivers from Sunyani always refuse to go to the area. Can you believe that as at 8am school children are still standing by the roadside looking for cars to board to school?
“The road is full of dust and those of us selling or doing hairdressing and dressmaking have to close our shops because of excessive dust,” they disclosed.
They pleaded with President Akufo-Addo and the Bono Regional Minister to come to their aid.
Receiving the petition, the Bono Regional Minister promised to read the content and act on it, saying, “If it is within my means I would act on it quickly, but if it is above me then I will send it to the appropriate quarters for redress.”
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Yawhima-Sunyani