Hundreds of commuters at Seikwa in the Tain district of the Brong Ahafo region, the hometown of Johnson Asiedu Nketia, popularly called General Mosquito, General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and board member of the Bui Power Authority, were yesterday rendered stranded following a sit-down strike embarked upon by commercial drivers in the area.
The situation was so bad that pregnant women and the sick referred from the Seikwa Health Centre to the Berekum Holy Family Hospital were left to groan in pain as the drivers were not prepared to ply the road.
They further stopped others from using the road in protest over what they said was government’s insensitivity to the plight of the people in its failure to rehabilitate the Seikwa-Berekum road which has become unmotorable.
According to the drivers, their action was borne out of government’s lackadaisical approach towards their concerns and calls for it to put the road into good shape to improve transportation and economic activities in the area.
They also blamed Asiedu Nketia for failing to champion the cause of the area’s development and his failure to solicit funding from government to rehabilitate the road which is in a deplorable state.
The drivers in the town have therefore given the government two weeks to respond to their call to award rehabilitation work of the road on contract or face their wrath. Spokesperson for the drivers, Yaw Bekoe told Daily Guide that the Seikwa-Berekum road has been christened “raster road” because it is in such a poor state and full of potholes.
He said they spend all their daily sales maintaining their vehicles which break down after every trip and virtually make nothing for themselves or their car owners.
Bekoe further indicated that their action was to safeguard the health of their passengers as well as their vehicles hence their desire for government to take steps to reconstruct the road. According to him, government continues to pay lip service to maintaining the road, adding that the time has come for people in the area to also get their fair share of the national cake.