Our Plea: The Cries Of Deserted Communities

Every Community in Ghana needs to have access to basic amenities as a share of the National Cake. Article 35(3) of the constitution of the Republic instructs the state to promote just and reasonable access by all citizens to public facilities and services in accordance with Law. Again, the same constitution, Article 35, 6(c) commands the state to provide adequate facilities for, and encourage free mobility of people, goods and services throughout Ghana.

For over ten (10) decades, Kamampa, Cheremo and Krobo have not had access to electricity and a good road network system. A well-built feeder road is a desired public facility for the people within the area. From Abease through to Krobo, Kamampa and Cheremo, there is no feeder road that links these communities. Meanwhile, foodstuffs, Charcoal and other agricultural products are produced and supplied to the national capital and other cities in Ghana. The people of Accra and Kumasi had benefited from the economic activities of these areas. Bags of charcoal and tubers of yams have been exported from these areas to the cities mentioned. These communities have existed for more than hundred (100) years and all governments beginning from 1992 promise of constructing a fitting feeder road for the area in order to connect them to the economy of the other surrounding cities and the national capital.

From the preliminaries of these exposition, it is, to the greatest extent understandable, clear that the state has shirked its core and fundamental responsibility of providing public facilities to the people of the area for a very long time. The mobility of the people within the area is troubled during the rainy seasons every year. Constructing a feeder road for them will greatly improve on the kind of activities that are undertaken at these villages. Besides improving their level of economic activities, it will help them have access to markets that are closer to them. There are developed markets in Atebubu, Prang and Kintampo that will be trade centres for the people in these areas. Yams, Cassava, Cashew nuts, Charcoal and other agricultural produce can be transported easily to the market centres if the road network system is developed. In fact, currently, their living is completely akin to those on an islands. They are downright cut off the national grid and have no access to even a bit of the national cake. It is extremely miserable to live at these villages. The distance from any of these three villages to the nearest government hospital is very far. Any incident of acute illness of any member of the communities will definitely result in death. It is chancy for the people to visit any clinic and return safely with any serious illness that befall them as the CHPS Compounds built by the communities are not adequately stocked with the right drugs and medicines.

In 2005, the State and the Assembly awarded a contract to a firm that used tractors and people to construct the road. In fact, before this contract, many others were given to different firms. All these firms abandoned the projects before their expiry. Many firms came with old road-constructing equipment that cannot build a 5-kilometer road. A chronicle of events will reveal a genuine avoidance of responsibility on the part of the Government and the Assembly of the area. In fact, in 2005 the firm constructing the road actually used labour intensive technique in all its activities. Men fed the tractors which were used to convey the gravels to the road sites. Even in the days of hunting and gathering this was never done.

The most hurtful of it all was in 2015, the road was given to the women group in the community to rebuild. They used holes, cutlasses and head pans to undertake their activities. The plight of the people in these areas worsened in the rainy season after the group worked on the road in the dry season. They only used sand dug from the gutters to fill the potholes on the road. There are embarrassment of events that happened in the construction of the road throughout these years.

Currently, the road linking Zambrama to Cheremo is deplorable. From Cheremo to Kamampa is extremely terrible; it is flooded already. There is no distinction between the road linking the two villages and a path to the palm-wine tapper’s site. It is not motorable. From Kamampa through Krobo to Abease is equally worse. As it is the responsibility of the state to provide adequate facilities and encourage free mobility of people, goods and services throughout Ghana, it our plea the Government, the Regional Coordinating Council and the District Assembly come to our aid by providing a neatly-constructed feeder road and connect the people to the National grid through the Rural Electrification Programme as the area is configured for electricity supply.

BY Emmanuel Kwabena Wucharey
(A Citizen of Kamampas)