Two of the three-lane lower level of the Pokuase Interchange, have been taken over by trotro or commercial commuters, plantain and cassava sellers.
The two-lanes have become mini-markets and eroding the dividends that the project was intended to visit on the road and the interchange as a whole.
Commercial activities have resumed on the newly constructed multimillion dollar project as though nobody cares. Even MOMO structures are in place on the usurped lanes barely a week since the project was commissioned by the President.
Traffic congestion, the reason for which the project was undertaken, has returned on the portion of the road which the traders have taken over.
Social media carried worrying sentiments of a cross section of Ghanaians yesterday when pictures of the anomalies were posted.
There was a consensus though that action should be taken immediately against the traders before they entrench their positions on the road which serves as a highway to the interior of the country, and to Burkina Faso and Mali. It also serves as a link to the suburbs like Amasaman and beyond.
It is ironic that the objectives for which former President AgyekumKufuor conceived of the project, allowing the free-flow of vehicular traffic, and which was constructed by President Akufo-Addo, will be eroded with such impunity.
Even the pedestrian walkway is not being sufficiently patronised; many pedestrians prefer endangering their lives by racing to the opposite direction by walking over the ornamental planted on the medians.
Henry Quartey
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, upon hearing about the development, dispatched a rapid response team to go and clear the place of the traders.
It will take a lot of effort and consistency so asto change the attitude of the traders and commercial motorists to stop turning the interchange into a market.
It appears however that, the regional minister is intent on making things work. Having just accomplished the relocation of the onion market, he is still in the mood for further action against anomalous attitude which the Pokuase Interchange presents.
By A.R. Gomda