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Report by Edward FRIMPONG
It is clear that roads are a necessity for living in modern age. The state of every road, the surface condition and structural integrity have great impacts on vehicles, drivers and the community at large.
What is happening between Chiraa and Sunyani is terrible and requires an urgent positive action by the people to wake their leaders up from their slumber to lessen the pain and agony the residents have been suggested to over the past few years.
It is unthinkable that a major road which links two regional capitals i.e Sunyani and Techiman can deteriorate to such deplorable levels under the watch of those who should know better.
The importance of this road is so enormous given the major economic activities which take place between Sunyani and Techiman.
Chiraa as a town plays a significant role in the Sunyani West Municipality. It has the second largest population in the municipality. It has the largest weekly market which attracts large numbers of people to the town on Tuesdays. Chiraa fetches the Sunyani West Municipal Assembly more revenue than any other town in the municipality. It is the hub of sand, stone and quarry industry in the region and the number of heavy duty vehicles which ply the road on daily basis is simply immeasurable.
The economic importance of Techiman on the other hand, cannot be enumerated.This otherwise important road has been left to deteriorate to this deplorable levels and yet shamefully used by all the players whose inertia have resulted in the current state of the road.
Ghana is a developing nation, there is a constant demand for good quality infrastructure, transportation and services. But in the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty, courtesy Bob Marley.
In spite of the numerous resources the residents of Chiraa are endowed with as a country, coupled with the huge loans they are saddled with, if the residents have not been able to address their infrastructural needs in totality, at least, it should be above average.
Having a poor road system makes it more difficult for people to move from one place to the other and especially more expensive for farmers to bring their produce to the market centres.In their case,
Bad roads adversely affect them in several other ways and this makes them poorer.
Building and repairing roads make powerful impact on the lives of the people in the rural areas. Many small towns in Ghana are poor and many young people are being driven to go to large towns to find jobs.
Has it been lost on their leaders that road development brings social, cultural and economic changes in the lives of the people in terms of providing connectivity between people and places and thus helping to reduce the poverty as well as direct market access to the rural produce?
It is a fact that if roads in an area are well developed and properly maintained, travel time is greatly reduced, access to local market, workplaces, educational institutions, medical and health services are increased.
Damages to vehicles plying the Sunyani Chiraa Techiman Wenchi road are senseless when looked at. Have the people who use that road committed any crime against the state to be subjected to that inhumane treatment?
Should the residents conclude that the Sunyani West Municipality is a failed municipality in terms of roads? Come to think of it, the whole municipality will be engulfed in poor road network. The road leading to Odumase the municipal capital is poor, Odumase town roads are poor, Odumase Kwatire Adantia road is worse, Bofourkeom and other small settlements, the least said about their roads, the better. The state of the Chiraa road now is the worse in living memory.
The road has never deteriorated to the current level before.
The only good road in the Sunyani West Municipality is the Kumasi Dormaa Ahenkro Highway which passes through Fiapre to Nsoatre constructed under PNDC several years ago.
So for how long shall the people of Chiraa be taken for a ride? Enough of the promises and empty rhetorics, the residents need action.
There is growing evidence of anger, dissatisfaction and frustration among the people of Chiraa and as the Progressive Union of the town they cannot ignore their justified concerns as they see clear attempts to take them for a ride. If the residents of Chiraa do not take care, there may come a time when they will not be able to contain the anger and frustration of the people.
According to the Progressive Union they urged the government especially the Bono Regional Co-ordinating Council and the Sunyani West Municipal Assembly to tackle the Chiraa road with all the seriousness for the people to feel that they are part of the municipality. As it is now, the residents feel too marginalized to say the least.
“We will however continue to play our part to ensure that the municipality built on the solid rock of sacrifice of the people of the area especially Chiraa to survive till eternity”. progressive union said.
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