Dodo Amanfrom Roads In Sorry State – Negatively Impacting On Economic Activities

By Kingsley Komla Adom and Aaron Appiah
Residents of Dodofie, Dodo Amanfrom and other adjoining communities in the Kadjebi District of the Volta Region are agitated by what they describe as the 'neglect' of their communities by the government, following fruitless assurances of the construction of their roads.

According to community folks, several promises made to the chiefs and elders by the government, concerning the construction of deplorable roads in the area, have failed to see the light of day.

The town development committee lamented that business activities in the area have also been brought to an abrupt halt, while some business entities have pulled out of investing in the community.

Nearly every aspect of life in the predominantly cocoa-farming communities (Dodo Amanfrom, Dodo Betel, Dodofie, Dompa, Mangoase, Pepeso) have been impacted negatively by the condition of the roads, described by residents as 'death traps'.

Inter-Community Road Links In Bad Shape

The road network linking Amanfrom to Papase, Papase to Dompa, Dapaa junction to Dodofie, Mangoase and Pepeso are all impassable. The situation, the authorities decried, gets even worse when it rains, as the absence of drainage systems cause what is left of the road to be eroded.

For several years, farmers here have had to contend with huge revenue losses due to gluts in the bumper harvest seasons, since buyers and other traders are unable to come into the community during market days, owing to the sorry state of the roads.

On our way to Dodofie, up the hill, we discovered a truck had stuck in one of the deep gullies on the road. It took the intervention of some youth in the area to assist the driver get out of the sticky situation.

Community Leaders Lament Unfulfilled Promises
According to the Paramount Chief of the Dodo Traditional Area, Dasebre Obuoni Osebewua VI, several calls and appeals to the District Assembly to pay attention to the roads in the area have proven futile, especially following the recent inauguration of the Dodi-Papase-Nkwanta road by the President.

“President John Drahmani Mahama, during his 'Accounting to the people' tour of the Volta Region last two months, promised the roads in this area were going to have immediate attention,” he said.

However, since then, one assurance after another, without any concrete action, has been the order of the day, a situation, he described as worrying.

Through the Town Development Committee, the community petitioned the District Assembly, which promised some commencement of work by the end of June 2016. It is almost mid-August, but the situation remains 'precariously desperate'.

According to the Paramount Chief, the assembly said it had forwarded all documents concerning the roads to the Department of Feeder Roads for onward forwarding to Accra for action to be taken.

The Nkosuohene of Dodo Amanfrom, Nana Kojo Nyame, also bemoaned that the state of the roads is crippling nearly every business activity in the area.

“Two financial institutions, namely, GN Bank and Unity Bank, which hitherto promised to open branches in this community, have reneged on the idea, attributing it to the impassable nature of roads in Amanfrom, and those linking Amanfrom to other communities,” he revealed.

Nana Kojo Nyame noted that the three Metro Mass Transit buses that ply Amanfrom to Ho and Accra, sometimes spend long hours on the road, while others sleep in the middle of their journeys, exposing occupants to all sorts of attacks.

He said: “We have one of the biggest foodstuff markets in the entire region, but for a long time, our foodstuffs are left to rot, since buyers who used to travel here from across the length and breadth of the country are unable to come here and purchase the goods.”

Motorbikes Widely-Used Means of Transport

Due to the terrible nature of the roads, activities of motorbike riders are rife in the community. Motorbikes are the common means of transport for residents and visitors, including the sick and women in labour.

This has led to the opening up of a whole new debate, as many road accidents are recorded in the area on these motorbikes, owing to the state of the roads.

Some of the bikers revealed they are constantly involved in accidents, especially, at night, due to the absence of streetlights, coupled with the bad state of roads.

“Because of the bad roads, we end up catering for the cost of treatment to injuries our clients sustain when we trip on the road. It makes us lose all of the little revenue we generate,” one motor rider lamented.

Others decried how often they have to transport pregnant women and those in labour to the nearest health facility on the same roads, which present many of these women with avoidable complications during labour.

“We transport the sick, pregnant women, chiefs and all classes of residents. But, we take too long to transport women in labour to the health facility, because we have to ride very slowly, else they develop complications,” Fataw, another motorbike rider, noted.

DCE Responds
Meanwhile, the District Chief Executive of Kadjebi, Jacob Asokonde, has disclosed that roads in the Dodo communities are of utmost concern to the assembly, adding that documentation processes are 'far advanced' to ensure construction begins as soon as possible.

He added that the road contracts have been awarded to a contractor, and soon work would commence. Mr. Asokonde further revealed that “the only withholding factor was the issuance of contract letters to the contractor,” a process, he described, as nearly done.

He said, “Government's commitment to fixing the roads in that part of the district has never been in doubt,” especially, following the recent inauguration of the Dodi-Papase-Nkwanta road in the district.

Drivers and Motor Riders Cry Out
Commercial vehicles are barely used as a means of transport in and among the Dodo communities. The few commercial buses that ply Hohoe to Amanfrom, Ho to Amanfrom, and Accra to Amanfrom have had to stomach a myriad of challenges to shuttle residents, traders and visitors in and out of the community.

Williams Biakoyeya, a commercial bus driver in the area for nine years, said the bad nature of roads results in regular brawls between drivers and passengers.

Some drivers, on reaching Dodi-Papase return to Hohoe, leaving passengers stranded, because they would not go any further, owing to the poor state of the roads.

“Many buses, including the Metro Mass Transit ones from Accra and other places, break down here. When this happens, it takes days to get them fixed. This phenomenon has scared other commercial bus drivers away from this area,” he noted.

He, therefore, called for some action to be taken to ensure the roads are made motorable.

Appeals
Reports of pregnant women suffering labour complications, and general loss of lives of residents due to delays in transporting them to the nearest referral facility at Papase, are widespread in Amanfrom, and residents fear the worst may befall them before the authorities decide to act.

They are, therefore, appealing to the powers that be, to fast-track the processes and actually commence work on the roads.

Community folk are furious – they claimed their communities have been neglected by the government, and have warned that if roads in these communities do not see any construction, they may boycott the 2016 general elections altogether.

Dodo Amanfrom is a knit settler community, with a population of over 5,000. Predominantly a farming community, rich in cocoa, maize, yam, cassava, plantain, gari and other foodstuffs, the community serves as the foodstuffs hub for most parts of the Volta Region.

During active harvest seasons, tonnes of foodstuff are produced, which traders from Ho, Hohoe, Krachie, Jasikan, Kpando, Aflao, Accra, Tema, and parts of Northern Ghana, travel to purchase for resale.