Lone crusader protests Motorway interjection

There was drama, and a serious one at that on the Accra-Tema Motorway Tuesday afternoon when a queen mother protesting the illegal construction of an access road angrily stormed the speedway.

The action of Nana Esi Corea I, Queen mother of Larteh in the Eastern Region brought speeding cars to a screeching halt as she jumped in their path and demanded that she be run over if that was what the authorities needed to sit up on the imminent danger the access road posed to motorists.

Nana Esi Corea I, also known in private and showbiz as Lady Tamara, embarked on her action at a time the acting Minister of Transport, Felix Owusu Agyapong and a team of engineers were showing journalists round the site of the construction of the access road by Trasacco Valley Limited, an estate developer.

The Minister told journalists the 26-kilometre access route was temporarily constructed by Trasacco Valley for dignitaries who will be housed in 10 houses donated by the company for the Ghana@50 golden jubilee celebrations and that it would be destroyed thereafter.

He also debunked claims that it was likely to cause accidents.

Just as the team accompanying the Minister got out of the bus, Lady Tamara from nowhere walked straight to the middle of the Trasacco Valley access to the motorway and lifted her hands screaming “It is dangerous, it is dangerous.”

The lone crusader explained to Joy News that losing her life there would be the only option to stop government and the developer from using that road.

But the acting Transport Minster maintained that government was allowing the route as a temporary project and that there was no intention to make it permanent.

He told journalists at the site that a number of safety measures would be taken to prevent any accident.

“When they are leaving the house to Accra, there would have been a slow down barrier there, sufficient notice at a distance, then there will be the physical notice which will compel you to become a single lane and therefore you will have to reduce your speed and if any of such dignitaries is about to leave from that junction there will be sufficient police protection. I'm told of an argument that we should have allowed them to go through the East Legon area and let them enjoy a bit of the hustle and bustle we go in, I don't think that is the sort of punishment we want to give our dignitaries.”

He said the project was being funded by Trasacco Valley and at no cost to the State and urged Ghanaians to appreciate the move and accord the dignitaries the needed respect on the roads.

Meanwhile the Manager of Trasacco Valley, Kwabena Dapaah Siakwan told Joy News that the company had no intention to use the access route after the dignitaries had left.

According to MR. Siakwan his company intended to construct an appropriately engineered and a more sophisticated link to the motorway than the current one, for which a proposal had been presented to government.

The company was awaiting approval of the proposal.