Shoddy Work On Adenta-Fafraha Road – A Call For Action By The Ministry Of Roads And Highways

The setting in of the rains, barely three months after a major re-surfacing work on the Adenta-Fafraha road, has visibly exposed the very shoddy and poor quality of work done by the Ghana Highway Authority, as motorists now drive over countless pot-holes on the newl- re-surfaced road.

This is incredible and very worrying, especially, when the sitting President of the Republic of Ghana is seriously protecting the national purse and sounding a clarion call for value for money.

Users of that stretch of road have gone through difficult times of inhaling dust, frequent breakdowns of their vehicles, slow vehicular movement in thick traffic, always dodging pot-holes, and, in some cases, being involved in road accidents, before and during the construction works.

Besides, shop-owners on both sides of the road had to close down their shop as a result of the dust coming from the construction works.

This may have affected their source of livelihoods, considering the undue delays in the work before the road saw the light of day.

Indeed, the completion of the road works brought a sigh of big relief to the entire community, in particular, motorists plying that route but not knowing that they would soon drive again on the same deplorable road with its terrible and unpleasant experience.

Clearly, there is dishonesty and falsehood in the amount invested in the work and the outcome derived from it.

Although, the Ghana Highway Authority has completed the job, the ordinary tax payer, represented by the government, did not get value for money – a situation which can be described as “corruption in a witty manner.”

This is the type of corruption is on a massive scale and does not only happen in the public sector, but also in the church and non-governmental organisations.

The government, working through the appropriate institutions, must ensure that those who cheat the system by diverting public funds into their private pockets, and, in the process, use cheap and sub-standard materials to do their work, causing financial loss to the state, are prosecuted together with their cronies, at the law court.

The Ministry of Roads and Highways should, as a matter of urgency, probe into this construction work and ensure that the officer responsible is quickly brought to book to fix the road for economic growth and development, otherwise, the President vision of fighting against corruption in our society will only become another empty political talk, as it happened in the era of zero tolerance for corruption.

Thank you.
Michael A. Ansa
Development Practitioner
Accra
[email protected]