A 52-years-old security officer, Mr Philips Tettey is reaping financial rewards after volunteering to fill potholes on dilapidated streets within Tema and Kpone-Katamanso areas in the Greater Accra Region.

Mr Tettey, who was driven by passion and philanthropy, did not expect financial rewards but as it turned out, users of his adopted roads deeply appreciated his service.

He told the Ghana News Agency that, he had been filling potholes on some major streets in the two areas for the past four years.

According to him, he started the voluntary pothole filling on the road linking the Tema Community Nine cemetery to T-Havana parks restaurant where he worked for two years.

He added that his work on that stretch came to an end when it was asphalted.

According to him, he moved to the road linking the Kpone Police barrier to Michel Camp on the Ashaiman-Akosombo road after receiving information from some commercial drivers that the road had a lot of potholes which made driving dangerous.

Mr Tettey, a resident of Klagon in the Tema West Municipality, said the job was very lucrative as “on a normal day, I make about GHS 80.00 and on good days, I rake in GHS 150.00 or more”.

He said his former job as a security officer at a private company, was not paying much, therefore, his resolve to continue filling the potholes to make extra money to take care of his family.

He stated that he bought a shovel while some officials of the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Assembly provided him with a wheelbarrow in appreciation of his voluntary services.

He, however, expressed the hope that road construction companies would employ him to properly work on such roads for an income after gaining hands-on experience in road maintenance.

Filling of potholes had become a lucrative business among young men in Tema and its environs, with a number of them, positioned on the TOR-Kpone road among others filling the holes and gallies created by erosion with sand, stones, clay and debris which they find with ease.

They employ several strategies to appeal to drivers for money but some demand as a matter of right and would even curse those who defy them.