Congratulations to our Presidents for the hardship travellers endure daily on our trunk roads

At the very heart of every good research is collection, compilation, evaluation, analysis and publication of data in pursuance of the public good. Data collection obviously is an important ingredient to research work and the mode of collection is heterogeneous.

Thus, one could employ interviews, questionnaires, observations, oral histories, focus groups, documents and records among others in carrying out research work. In all of the data collection techniques, personal observations, I believe, is key as the author him or herself becomes glued in the problems and profer solutions with the view to drawing the attention of those whose duty it is to address them.

Therefore, it is worthy to note that this writeup goes beyond mere article for publication but rather a complete research work and its foundation hinges on personal observations which means the author is personally affected and understands the pain more than our leaders who may not have had the benefit of experiencing same but are the ones to remedy this ordeal.

To start with, how many times have our presidents and for the purposes emphasis, this refers to all Presidents of the fourth Republic or road ministers travelled to Kumasi from Accra on a VIP Bus in their entire life? If the means of travelling obviously is a V8 with a 'wow wow wow' siren motorcade preceding them, then am sorry, they are not feeling the pain enough to understand why our trunk roads need dualization.

It is unconscionable, to say the least, for man to waist close to 8 hours only to travel to Accra from Kumasi. The experiences of my travel from Kumasi to Accra and from Accra to Kumasi have averaged 6 hours on VIP Buses. Any driver who does 5 hours is a recklessly driven driver who rather needs immediate arresting for wrongful overtaking.

They are trunk roads and their names speak volumes of the number of vehicles of different kinds that ply them. People and Goods from Mali, Burkina Faso, the northern parts of Ghana, Ahafo, Bono, Ashanti and Eastern Regions use this road and goods are conveyed by articulators and long vehicles which means travellers have had to move at a slower pace to get to a convenient part of the road before overtaking. Those who become tired of the situation begin to wrongfully overtake or move by the road sides which is one of the root cause of road accidents.

On Thursday July 15, our VIP Bus registration number AC 839-18 set off at 2: 30 pm and got to Pokuase at 10 O'clock pm. Let's calculate the hours of pain one had had to endure to get to the bus stop in Accra. In fact, we spent close to 1 hour 30 minutes at Nkawkaw alone due to an accident and a fault of another vehicle which had blocked the road in several hours! And as for the traffic situation at Konongo, the least said about it, the better. Really, a trunk road like that?

A boy on the bus was to take off at 10: 10pm from Kotoka International Airport to Germany and had to alight at Amasaman nearly 10pm for taxi dropping in an attempt to catch up with his flight and this is a verifiable information which is why I internationally put out the bus's registration number for verification. The outpouring of disappointment of the passengers in our leader on the bus was beyond description and this has been the normal routine in a few experiences I have had, travelling on such occasions due to time wastage and increasing fatigue.

Our leaders must disguise themselves and try travelling from Kumasi to Acrra or from Accra to Kumasi and I believe, they will appreciate why some youths are on social media berating them left, right and center. Albeit I endorse no such intransigence and recalcitrance, I am unable to blame them at all.

With all the good transportation system in Germany in the shape of underground trains and the like, I believe the gentleman had an unforgettable experience yesterday which might drive him into diaspora permanently and I wouldn't be surprised if he joins the bandwagon!

Enough is enough.