We’re tempted to believe that we’ve been sold to Burkina Faso – Navio residents threaten demo over collapsed bridge

Residents of Navio, a community in the Kassena-Nankana District of the Upper East Region have hinted at plans to stage a demonstration to register their displeasure with the dilapidated state of a collapsed bridge that connects them to the other parts of Ghana.

The Navio community is located at the edge of the Ghana-Burkina Faso border.

The only access route linking the community to other parts of Ghana is the Navio bridge road which broke down in April 2022.

The bridge collapsed after a heavy-duty articulated truck loaded with rosewood used the bridge.

Months on, the bridge has remained in a deplorable state, claiming lives without any attempts by government to fix it.

About 15 people have been reported to have died through accidents on the bridge.

The residents, numbering about 6000, have accused government of failing to recognise them as Ghanaians which they reason accounts for government's refusal to fix the collapsed bridge.

Assembly man for the area, Roland Apugido, who spoke to Class 91.3 FM’s Upper East Regional Correspondent Moses Apiah, Thursday, 9 February 2022, indicated that residents of the area are suffering due to the deplorable condition of the bridge.

“We’re really suffering here. We can’t do business across the river. Our farms animals, you can mention them and we appeal through the Assembly, through the Regional Minister to the authorities to come to our aid.

“Up [until] now, [there is] no evidence to show that somebody is listening to us so we think that the only way to draw home our demand is it to come out in our numbers, pour onto the street and at least present a petition to the District Chief Executive,” he said.

The Assembly man also revealed that the death toll due to the current state of the bridge could be higher than the 15, he is therefore of the view that, residents of the area have been sold to Burkina Faso.

“Even with the dry season, we lost two people.

“I will not be surprised if other bodies have been washed away and indeed we’re suffering and we’re tempted to believe that we have been sold to Burkina Faso which is closer to us,” the Assembly man stated.

The residents have disclosed they will demonstrate after a month if nothing is done about the current state of the bridge.

Source: classfmonline.com