My first time in Tamale... Young Positivist Writes

Folks, I recently had the opportunity to travel to the northern region of Ghana to participate in an in-person boot camp titled Climate Activist Program 2026 (CAP26), organized by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). I would like to share a few things I observed during my visit.

I have not travelled across the length and breadth of Ghana, just a few regions in the southern part. Travelling to the northern region seemed to me like travelling overseas. I vividly remember receiving the call from CDKN to be part of this year’s fellowship program. The caller informed me that the program would be held in Tamale and asked, “Can you make it?” My immediate response was, “Yes, I can make it; that would be a great experience”. And it eventually turned out to be a prodigious experience for me. I don’t want to jump the gun.

Like most people in southern Ghana, if it was not school, work, or a tour, it was hard for someone to travel to the northern region. Maybe this is due to the country’s administration system, where all administrative work is centred in Accra. Not many years ago, if you needed a passport or were travelling abroad and you were doing so from the north, you would have to come to Accra to get through this process. So, you would find someone like me who has never travelled to the northern region in their entire life. But the reverse is not the same as I have stated earlier due to the nature of our governance and administration system.

Now, let me share my first observation with you, and I would like to talk about the road network from Accra to Tamale. I know the issue of roads has been a major problem for each government since independence, and citizens always talk about the deplorable nature of our roads.

We left Accra during the daytime, so I was able to scan most of the road enroute to Tamale. As I consciously scanned through, I kept asking myself, why do we have only a single-lane road linking two big cities in Ghana? And the interesting thing is that this single lane road is used by both to and fro vehicles. Why has this been the case for so long?

After more than sixty-five years of independence, we cannot construct double or dual roads to link our major cities? What is really the problem? Now, aside from the road being a single lane, some parts of the road are in terrible condition. You will see all sorts of holes (potholes, manholes, and boreholes) on the road. First of all, we cannot construct modern roads for easier commuting, and we are also unable to patch our roads when they get degraded. Why?

Coming back from Tamale was daytime, and as usual, I got time to observe the road network. And it is not different from what I have painted earlier. There is no double or dual road from Kumasi to Tamale. Honestly, it was not a surprise to me. If you look at the kind of resources that we get from the northern part of Ghana and see the nature of the road, then we have to cringe as a country.

I cannot fathom that as a country, we are not concerned about this kind of issue. We have accepted this kind of mediocrity from those who are supposed to act and act responsibly. After nearly seventy years of independence, we cannot boast of double roads linking our major cities? Where did we go wrong? How many lives do we lose each year due to road accidents? According to the National Road Safety Commission, about 14,743 road crashes were recorded nationwide in 2025, of which 2,949 were fatal. Though there might be other factors that might have resulted in this huge number of road crashes, I know that the poor nature of our roads is a prime factor.

I now understand why each government rush to build airports when they come to power. The simple reason is that they know the road network is not good, and they do not want to die early, so they get an alternative way to help them evade death. Yes, evade death! Do not misconstrue my interpretation of airport construction in this article; situate it in the context of the argument I am making.

Each election year, these ‘politrickters’ would make noise about road construction, but when they get the power, they go on holiday. Why can’t we think about the next generation? The selfishness and greediness amongst these ‘politrickters’ are overwhelming. How much do we lose to corruption each year?

My next observation was the number of trees I saw in Tamale. Many years ago, I heard that there was little or no trees in the northern region. Honestly, I don’t know if I believed it or not, but that fallacious statement seemed to have stayed with me.

I went to the restaurant and saw some trees around, and I asked someone about what I had heard. The response was that it is not true. It is a misconception that some people have about the north, and that I am not alone.

Now, based on my observation, I can confidently say that I saw more trees in Tamale than I have seen in Accra, Koforidua, Cape Coast and other parts of the regions I have travelled to. I saw these trees as an intentional initiative from the people. And some of these trees are not just ordinary trees; some are cash crop trees. Maybe this exercise was informed by the lack of rainfall and extreme heat conditions in the north. And I think this is a great climate mitigation ingenuity taken by the people.

The next most fascinating thing I saw in Tamale was the number of motorbikes. If I am not exaggerating, I would say I saw more motorbikes than I did for cars. Now, let me tell you about the most fascinating side. If you saw ten people on motorbikes, about eight to nine of them were females. Females in all categories, young, middle and old. They rode the bikes with some impeccable swag! So, my curiosity made me ask about why almost everyone rides a bike. The response was that it enables easy commutation and you will not be stuck in traffic for many years, as we have in Accra and other parts of the country. It is like a prerequisite for everyone who grew up in Tamale to learn how to ride a bike and eventually own one in a lifetime. Interestingly, the women I saw on the bikes were not the only people sitting on them. Each of them had at least one person sitting at the back. That was really an eye-opener for me.

When I compare that in the southern part of Ghana, especially Accra, it is widely the opposite. If you saw ten people on a bike in Accra, it is likely to see ten out of ten being males. There is a stereotype in southern Ghana about women who even ride bike either bicycle or motorbikes. People see you from a different perspective, as if you, the lady is weird. And because some armed robbers normally use motorbikes in their operations, when care is not taken, people just become scared when they see men on motorbikes at night. But my visit to Tamale has taught me that it is not only men who ride motorbikes, but women can even do it better.

I cannot end without talking about how each street we used has a decent gutter system attached to the road. Unlike what we have in Accra. It is not just the gutters, but they are also drainable. Tamale is a beautiful city. The people there are lovely. They are very hospitable. I certainly know that this is not my last time there.

This trip has helped me to unlearn some of the misconceptions I was told many years ago. I also felt like I travelled overseas. It is indeed a long distance by road. We spent about fifteen hours on the road to get there and the same back. I think we had a very good and experienced driver as well.

I am grateful to CDKN for its investment in the youth. I know the opportunity will be life-changing for many of us. And I think one area the government should concentrate more on these days is on climate change and its gradual impact on the citizens. The program has given me some focus and direction.

Author: Sampson Boamah (boamah.sampson34@gmail.com )

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