Some commercial drivers and residents of Lakeside, Ashaley Botwe, Accra, have threatened to embark on a demonstration over the poor state of their roads, which one resident complained caused her to have a miscarriage.

The bad state of the roads, they said, is affecting their health and finances.

A demonstration, in their view, is the only way they can draw the attention of the government to fix the roads.

The secretary to the Ashaley Botwe bus terminal, Abraham Nuertey complained on Monday, 15 April 2019 that the bad roads are having a heavy financial toll on them.

“You buy shocks [absorbers] [and] within two weeks, one month, your shafts are down because it’s rough; when the rubber of the shafts tear, all the sand will enter your shocks”, he lamented to Accra-based Citi FM.

A resident also stated that she lost her pregnancy due to the bumpy nature of the road.

“Last year, I got pregnant but I had a miscarriage because of the road. The moment the car bumps into the manhole, your waistline [absorbs the shock] and, so, I had a miscarriage out of this bad road.”

The residents have, thus, started a #FixBotweRoadsNow movement and have so far gathered over 600 signatures through an online petition to compel the government to act.

One of the movement’s leaders, Mr Emmanuel Musah, explained that: “These roads are so bad to the point that a trip that is supposed to last you ten minutes, twenty minutes, you spend fifty minutes on the road. There are human beings living here, the dust is unbearable, we don’t even have potholes in Ashaley Botwe; what we have here are manholes.”

Despite assurances by the authorities that the roads will be fixed, the residents say they will prefer to embark on a demonstration in to get their frustrations heard.

“I think it’s demonstration that our leaders want. If you complain, they won’t mind you, but if you embark on a demonstration, that will make power for us”, a resident noted.