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General News of Friday, 3 May 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

Dawhenya youth block Dawhenya-Afienya road and give government two weeks to fix it

The residents burnt tyres to register their displeasure The residents burnt tyres to register their displeasure

Scores of youth in Dawhenya on Friday morning blocked the Dawhenya-Afienya link road as they demonstrated to announce their displeasure at the neglect of the dilapidated road by successive governments.

The youth, clad in red attire and bands, set tyres on fire on the road to prevent vehicles especially tipper trucks from plying it as they sang, shouted and danced for hours.

They carried placards, some which read "round one demo", "no road no campaign", "dust is killing us", "our future matters", among others.

The youth, who were visibly angered by the neglect rushed to block the Aka-Aye inner road with burning tyres when they released that the vehicles were taking a detour.

Police personnel from the Motor, Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service were on the road to ensure that the demonstration did not result in a gridlock on the Tema-Aflao road.

The demonstrating youth remained resolute in their campaign to prevent personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service from putting off one of the rows of fire they had set which was getting out of hand.

They however ran for dear life at the sound of the tear gas shots.

Mr John Charway, Ningo-Prampram Youth for Development, addressing the media, said they were giving government a 14-day ultimatum to release funds to the contractor to work on the road as they were reliably informed that funds for the construction had locked up.

Mr Charway said the deplorable nature of the road had led to the collapse of small and medium scale businesses in the area thus increasing unemployment and hopelessness.

He added that dust on the road was killing residents and motorists as they contracted respiratory sicknesses infections while their vehicles broke down frequently.



According to him, the haphazard driving on the stretch by tipper trucks left much to be desired as they knocked children and caused accidents in their hasty and unmeasured desire to join the main Tema-Aflao road.

He said it was disturbing that the 7. 2 kilometre road could not be fixed by successive governments over the past 25 years therefore the need for them to demonstrate to register their displeasure.



They called on government to compensate residents whose houses were demolished to make way for the construction of the road, adding that if government could not fund the construction of a dual carriageway, it should at least provide a properly constructed single road.