It would be recalled that scores of young individuals from and or resident within the Builsa South and Builsa North Districts of the Upper East Region Thursday, July 7, 2022, took to the principal streets of the area, wearing black and red attires to express their disappointment in the government for failing to work on the roads in the area even after months of oral commitment.
The road stretch of road in question is “right from Navrongo down to Chuchuliga, Sandema, Wiaga, Gbedema, Fumbisi up to Wiesi.”
The Lead Convener of the group, John Apaabey who spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show just moments before the demonstration explained that over the course of the last few months, some 8 persons had lost their lives due to the bad nature of the roads within the Fumbisi area; a situation that is undesirable.
As such, to compel the government and the contractor; MyTurn, to quickly fix the roads, the youth, poured onto the streets in their numbers, holding placards with inscriptions such as “Enough of the deaths due to your negligence. #MYTURN”, “We are citizens of Ghana too. Fix our roads. #GOVERNMENT”, “NDC neglected our roads, NPP about to do same.Enough of the neglect, fix our roads” and “Our lives also matter, Mr President, fix our roads” amongst others.
In a subsequent interview, it came to light that after a series of meetings among chiefs in the Buluk traditional area, the DCEs of the Builsa South and Builsa North Districts, the Upper East Regional Minister, management of MyTurn Construction Company and some young people from the aforementioned areas, the contractor, MyTurn, committed to completing at least 10 kilometres of roads within the Builsa South areas.
The Builsa South Area, Daniel Kwame Gariba spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show moments before some young people of the area hit the streets to protest the bad nature of the roads that had been given out under contract and yet had not been completed.
While the youth still have their own reservations made about the roads, the DCE was sure that targets would be met.
But in a recent interview with the Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, the youth are being blamed for being politically motivated.
He said while concerns about the said roads are genuine, the youth took the decision to demonstrate because of political convenience.
” … it was not that the youth were displeased. After all the explanations, they were very happy. That is the problem I have with this region. Everything is about politics. Basically, they were making politics out of it. In fact, when we got there, they did not even understand, they did not even know that those roads that they were talking about were awarded in 2020. They thought it was awarded in 2016.”
“They were saying that it was the NDC’s time the roads were awarded and we have come and we have abandoned it. The road that was awarded in 2016, was from Chuchuliga to Navrongo. That has been completed. The ones that they were talking about, were roads that were awarded in 2020. In fact, all the auxiliary works are even done.”
The Minister, Mr. Yakubu reiterated the Contractor’s promise and indicated that work is ongoing on the roads.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
