Regional News of Friday, 26 October 2018

Source: 3news.com

Madina MP fails to deliver on promises as pedestrians are killed daily

Pedestrians dangerously crossing from one of the abandoned footbridges Pedestrians dangerously crossing from one of the abandoned footbridges

Member of Parliament for Madina, Boniface Abubakar Saddique , has failed on his promise to the people of the constituency to fix abandoned footbridges along the Adenta-Madina Highway.

The abandonment of the five footbridges on the highway for about 10 years now has caused loss of lives through road accidents. Pedestrians struggle daily to cross the road from one side to the other while some of them are knocked down by speeding cars in the process.

The footbridges are at Zongo Junction, Redco Junction, Shop and Save, Tot-to-Teen school, and Bonds Square at Adenta barrier.

Many calls on government authorities responsible for completing the footbridges on the highway appear to have been ignored but recent killing of pedestrians triggered a campaign by Community Connect, a development oriented programme on 3FM.

When the MP for the area, Mr. Abubakar Saddique, appeared on the show in September this year, he assured his constituents the footbridges was going to be fixed by the end of October but with just five days to the end of the month, contractors are yet to even move to site.

At the time, he assured host of the show Johnnie Hughes that construction work on the footbridges was going to start in October and be ready by the end of that month.

However, Assembly member for Adentan West Area, Rashid Bonsu Osei, told Johnnie Hughes not a single machine or contractor has been seen at the site since the promise by the MP.

β€œIt’s been 26 days of the promises by the MP to have the footbridges fixed,” but that nothing has been done.

In the meantime, he said the Adentan Municipal Assembly has deployed some security guards to assist pedestrians and school children, especially, to cross the road from one side to the other during rush hours.

He observed the State has everything to get the traffic light and the bridges fixed as well as fix road markings to help pedestrians yet he does not see any urgency and commitment on the part of the government in that regard.

Meanwhile residents of the area have planned a townhall meeting on October 28 at the West Africa Secondary School (WASS) to deliberate on the matter.

The assembly member said as law abiding citizens, they have the right to meet and take strategic decisions and also prescribe specific actions that will push authorities to come to their aid.