Hurrying home after a stressful day from work last Friday, Akua Adu Gyamfi, a top marketing officer in one of the companies in the country (name withheld) and her three other colleagues decided to use the footbridge at the Kaneshie Station to cross over to the Banana Inn station, to board a Dansoman-bound car. Dansoman is an Accra suburb.
“The bridge is shaking”, one of the ladies complained as they, in fear, crossed over to the other end of the bridge.
Akua Adu Gyamfi, and her friends are not the only people complaining about the risky nature of the Kaneshie footbridge.
Visible cracks, rusty nuts screwed to the bridge, coupled with the many hawkers selling on the bridge has left the walkway now spotting very deadly and putting the lives of hundreds of people who use it daily in danger.
A visit by a team of reporters from the Crusading Guide newspaper revealed the bridge has developed rusty iron bolts and gaping holes. The iron bars meant to support the bridge have decayed and the concrete floor frightfully left in a menacing manner. It has developed holes which are eating deep into the bridge.
This is the umpteenth time the media is reporting on the dilapidated nature of one of the oldest footbridge, but the bridge remains in the same deplorable state, until it perhaps starts claiming casualties.
“I don’t think the authorities would come early enough to fix the bridge since they’ve come several times to check it, even Vandapuije came here to confirm the damage. They even took pictures of the bridge and assured us that they would come to fix it for us”, a hawker who pleaded anonymity told the team of reporters in Kaneshie.
According to the hawkers, a heavy duty truck which was said to be higher than the height limit at the bridge, a fortnight ago, hit against beneath the bridge and since then, the bridge had not been in its perfect shape.
The next time any pedestrian decides to use the Kaneshie footbridge, one may have to decide whether to take the risk, as from all indications, the city authorities are not ready to protect the life of the tax payer.
Meanwhile, attempts by the Crusading Guide newspaper to get the Assembly to speak on the issue yesterday hit on a snag as the reporters were told that unless there was a substantive mayor appointed for the Assembly, nobody would talk to us.