Minister calms Hikpo residents
The Volta Regional Minister, Ms Helen Adwoa Ntoso, has paid a visit to Hikpo near Akatsi in the South Tongu District to calm down residents who are threatening to embark on a protest if the government fails to provide them with speed humps within a short possible time.
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The issue of getting speed humps at all cost turned bloody last Tuesday at Hikpo when a military officer allegedly opened fire on some protestors who tried to illegally construct their own humps, thereby killing two people instantly.
The minister and a team of government officials were in the area to calm the people, commiserate with the families of the deceased, identified as Adzo Asinyo, 56, and Emmanuel Zilevu, 22, and also apologise for the conduct of the military.
The minister visited the families with an assurance of government support as they planned the funeral of the two. The team further visited the seven-year-old boy who is receiving treatment at the Sogakope District Hospital after he had been knocked down by a vehicle.
Ms Ntoso had a difficult task calming down the angry people who would not listen to anything but to have speed humps constructed on the stretch to reduce the rate at which vehicles were knocking down people, especially schoolchildren.
Describing what happened as unfortunate, the minister pleaded with the people to be calm, as the issue was being handled by the authorities.
She informed them that engineers from the highway authority had already assessed the situation and therefore, in due time, the speed humps would be constructed.
However, in the interim, the police would mount road barriers on the road to check the conduct of drivers and also slow down speeding vehicles.
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17 hit by speeding vehicles
According to Mr Evans Dodzi, Chairman of the Hikpo Unit Committee, about 17 people had been hit by speeding vehicles on the stretch from Hlevie to Tordzenu this year.
“We have about five communities, made up of Hlevie, Agbagorme, Hikpo, Tsavanya and Tordzenu, and there are no speed humps on the stretch of the road, a situation which endangers the lives of people who cross the road”.