{"id":100896,"date":"2013-07-01T23:14:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-01T23:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/asamankese-drivers-protest-against-bad-roads\/"},"modified":"2013-07-01T23:14:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-01T23:14:36","slug":"asamankese-drivers-protest-against-bad-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/07\/01\/asamankese-drivers-protest-against-bad-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"Asamankese drivers protest against bad roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"PortionsPortions of the Adeiso-Asamankese road<\/span><\/span>Exactly a week after drivers at Ashaiman, near Tema rioted due to the bad nature of roads in the area, commercial drivers at Asamankese in the Eastern Region also embarked on a demonstration yesterday in protest against the bad roads in the town.<\/span><\/p>\n

The roads are the Asamankese town roads, the Asamankese-Nsawam road, Asamankese-Suhum road, Asamankese-Kade road and the Asamankese-Akroso road.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike Ashaiman where the situation was rowdy, the demonstration in Asamankese was peaceful as drivers only refused to work as a sign of their protest.<\/p>\n

The sit-down action at Asamankese was nicknamed \u2018Azonto Demonstration\u2019 by drivers and residents because of the movement of vehicles and passengers in the drivers\u2019 quest to dodge bumpy roads or potholes<\/p>\n

The demonstration, which was said to have started at\u00a0 dawn, was called off at about 10 a.m,\u00a0 shortly after the Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC) had called a meeting with the leaders of the drivers\u2019 unions.<\/p>\n

Drivers<\/strong><\/p>\n

A taxi driver, Kwasi Edward, told the Daily Graphic that he serviced his vehicle every week because of the bad nature of the roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mechanics are \u2018chopping\u2019 our money, because if you don\u2019t send your car for servicing and repairs, you will starve\u201d.<\/p>\n

A commercial bus driver, Kofi Ofori, said the drivers did not have any problem with anybody and that \u201cour problem is with the bad nature of the roads\u201d.<\/p>\n

He indicated that the wear and tear of their vehicles had increased because of the bad roads, and it was time an immediate action was taken to ensure a long\u00a0 lifespan for their vehicles.<\/p>\n

Another taxi driver, Kwame Fosu, said \u201cafter a day\u2019s work, you feel pains all over your body due to the bumpy roads\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sammy Ola, also a taxi driver, said it was time attention was turned to the roads so as to ensure the smooth movement of people, goods and services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe roads are too rough and bumpy and people cannot travel from one part of the town to another without any difficulty. I mean why should it be so?,\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

GPRTU<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) Branch Number 3 Chairman, Mr Kwadwo Fosu, said the protest was in order, because the transport operators had raised the issue with the municipal assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been telling them about the bad nature of the roads but they have not listened to us. At least this action will make them act,\u201d he said, adding that it was when they started demonstrating that \u201cthe assembly came and invited us\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite the meeting, he said, the drivers and operators had given the government one month to improve the road, since drivers could not continue using it.<\/p>\n

According to Mr Fosu, he received complaints every now and then from drivers about the poor state of the road, and \u201cI think their action today is a manifestation of their anger\u201d.<\/p>\n

Municipal Chief Executive<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Municipal Chief Executive for West Akyem, Mr George Mensah Akpalu, said it was true that the drivers embarked on a demonstration due to the nature of the roads in the area.<\/p>\n

He noted that it was not the assembly that constructed roads and pledged to take the issue up with his superiors.<\/p>\n

Mr Akpalu said he was on his way to meet the Eastern Regional Minister on the issue to see how best to address the problem, adding that the Chief of Staff, Mr Prosper Bani, had also called him.<\/p>\n

Police<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Asamankese District Police Superintendent, Yahaya Muchiraru, who confirmed the incident, said the demonstration was quite peaceful.<\/p>\n

He said he had deplored enough men at the lorry park and other places ahead of the action of the drivers so that miscreants did not take advantage of the situation to destroy property.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsamankese is peaceful and people are going about their normal activities as you can see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Residents<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some residents said although they were affected by the sit-down strike of the drivers, they supported their action since they were also affected by the nature of the roads.<\/p>\n

A resident, Kwasi Gyamfi, said \u201cThere is no smooth ride in and out of this town. It is like we are not part of Ghana,\u201d he said, adding that the \u201cwhole town road is in a mess\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another resident, Kwame Frimpong, who also indicated his support for the action of the drivers, said the people were fed up with the situation because it was unbearable.<\/p>\n

By Emmanuel Bonney<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Portions of the Adeiso-Asamankese roadExactly a week after drivers at Ashaiman, near Tema rioted due to the bad nature of roads in the area, commercial drivers at Asamankese in the Eastern Region also embarked on a demonstration yesterday in protest against the bad roads in the town. The roads are the Asamankese town roads, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}