‘Stop deaths on Accra-Kasoa-Winneba road’

Some residents of the Ga South and Weija-Gbawe Municipalities yesterday poured onto the streets in their numbers in solidarity with the Concerned Landlords of Ayigbe Town Association (CLATA) to protest against what they termed as "rampant accidents and knockdowns" on the Accra-Kasoa-Winneba Highway.

According to them, the lack of traffic lights, road humps, zebra crossings and poor visibility resulting from non-functioning street lights had led to an average of about 10 knockdowns every week, a situation they said was fast killing their people and depriving them of many of their youth.

They took to the streets at about 6:30 a.m., wearing red attires and red head and armbands to register their displeasure about the frequent knockdowns and to demand that the authorities move in to curb the situation.

Some protestors carried banners with the pictures of some of the alleged victims who had died from the accidents and knockdowns and inscriptions such as, "Authorities, please rescue us from perishing on the Kasoa-Winneba road for the blood on the roads are too much."

Others also held placards some of which read: “Where is the tollbooth money”, “The voice of the people is the voice of God’, “Mr President, please care for the dying, we are suffering too much on Kasoa-Winneba road”, “No road signals, no traffic lights, no speed humps, poor roads” and “killing one person means killing thousands of people,” among others.

Request

The Chairman of CLATA, Mr James Tsevi, who led the demonstration, said all attempts in the past to get the problem resolved by the authorities had failed and they would not back down this time around.

He issued a two-week ultimatum to the authorities to have the problem solved or face further consequences.

"We have been contacting the authorities since 2014 as regards the fatal motor accidents on the Accra-Kasoa- Winneba Road, especially at the Ayigbe Town Junction where many lives have been lost but nothing much has been done about it, except the National Road Safety Commission which came to inspect conditions at the 'killer junction'," he said.

"We are, under the circumstances, requesting that the authorities concerned come to our aid promptly by constructing road humps, install road markings, road signs, solar-powered traffic lights and street lights on this stretch to minimise motor accidents that have killed many and left many others deformed," he added.

Petition

Mr Tsevi said the Municipal Chief Executives of Weija-Gbawe and Ga South Municipalities would be petitioned officially and their attention drawn to the issues at stake even though they were already aware of the situation.

"When they fail to listen to us and do not take practical actions immediately, we will block the streets and construct mountain-like road humps ourselves to protect our lives and that of our loved ones," he said.