Joe Gidisu Hooted

At By Aflao & Denu

As Volta Feeling Neglected *

By Herald Scouts In Aflao

The Minister of Road Transport, Mr. Joe Gidisu, is very unpopular in the border towns of Aflao and Denu, over the construction of a proposed dual carriage road which passes through the two towns in the south of the Volta Region, and enters Togo.

Mr. Gidisu was recently embarrassed in Aflao as residents hooted at him when he visited the towns to convince the chiefs and people to accept a single lane road instead, as the construction of the dual carriage road passing through their towns is too expensive for government to bear, hence the road will be relocated.

The international road has been in a very deplorable state for many decades now although it is one of the major trade routes to and from Ghana.

The coal-tar on the road is worn off, and these days, the people have resorted to wearing mask, and using other things to protect their nose from the thick dust on it. The dusty nature of the road has left offices along the street uncomfortable to use. Some people have taken advantage of the situation, and are making money from selling nose protective masks.

Mr. Gidisu’s insistence on the relocation of the road, has angered the Aflao and Denu people, because he earlier met the chief of Aflao, Togbui Fiti Amenya, in his palace sometime in September 2009, and assured him that the dual carriage road will be constructed at all cost, as it is dear to the Mills government.

Apart from Mr. Gidisu’s earlier assurance, Mr. Fiifi Kwetey, Deputy Minister of Finance, had also stressed on a local radio station, Light FM 101.1 in Denu, on February 23, 2010, that the government has no alternative than to construct the dual carriage road for what he called “the NDC World Bank”. He added that the GH¢10 million compensation will not break governments’ back.

It was, therefore, shocking when Mr. Gidisu, with a speed of light, dashed to Aflao with a different stance after hearing that the youth of the two towns had announced a three-day street demonstration, starting January 19 to 21, to press home their demand for the expansion of the road to ease traffic.

Mr. Gidisu’s explanation to the people who had gathered in the Ketu South District Assembly Hall was that the construction of a dual carriage road has become impossible due to an estimated GH¢10 million compensation to be paid to property owners, therefore the road will be relocated near the sea.

This drew the spleen of the already charged crowd which begun hooting at him, and demanded he is carried away from the venue to prevent the unexpected from happening. There is anger in the Ketu South District, fueled by a strong perception that Mills government is backtracking on the dual carriage road project.

Some residents in Aflao and Denu find it difficult to understand Mr. Gidisu’s argument over the re-location of the dual carriage road.They said that minister’s argument that payment of GH¢ 10 million compensation to people, will raise the cost of the project is untenable.

They argue that there are several instances where compensation has been paid to people for government projects like the one in dispute, and cited work on the Tetteh Quarshie-Apenkwa Dual carriageway road where huge sums of money have been paid as compensation to traders affected by the project.

The compensation is being paid from the Millennium Challenge Account, they said, and asked the minister why similar mode of payment of compensation has not been arranged for the Accra-Denu-Aflao road.

Already, the Volta Region is not in the best of shapes for the ruling NDC party as lots of people in the region feel that even under President John Mills, they are once again being marginalized in terms of developmental projects.

It has taken Doe Adzaho, and Dan Abodakpi, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Ghana’s Ambassador to Malaysia respectively, very influential people in the region, among others, to calm down nerves after many secret meetings, but things are still tense.

The Herald’s NDC sources indicate that ex-President Rawlings is planning a tour of his home region. But Mr. Rawlings will be going into the region reeling heavily under criticism that the region did not see any facelift when he served as President.

Indeed, some have teasingly joked that the regional capital, Ho, had a single traffic light at the time Mr. Rawlings left office.

Prior to Mr. Gidisu’s visit, Togbui Fiti Amenya, the paramount chief of Aflao Traditional area, issued a strong warning on radio to his sub-chiefs and Aflao people to boycott the hurriedly organized meeting, with the chief getting his invitation late the previous night.

Indeed, when the minister and his entourage visited the chief’s palace, they met his absence with a message that their visit and planned meeting was impromptu and, therefore, it should be rescheduled to a later date, perhaps three days after their planned demonstration.

There was a near scuffle which almost marred the meeting. While addressing the forum, Mr. Gidisu said: “Aflao and Denu people should note that the 70, 000 plus votes are not from only Aflao/Denu”. It took the intervention of Mr. Albert Zigah, the MP of Ketu South, to persuade the charged crowd to remain calm.

Mr. Gidisu, was accompanied by Mr. Alex Segbefia, Deputy Chief of Staff and the Volta Regional Minister, Mr. Joseph Amenowode, but both of them were unable to ease the anger of the people. They only promised to send their demand to a higher authority for redress.

But shortly after the meeting, people numbering about a thousand poured on the streets of Aflao to stage the planned demonstration.

People between the ages of eight and 83, led by the Aflao Youth Association (AYA) and Denu Concerned Youth, on January 19, started the demonstration from the Aflao border to Denu, against Mr. Gidisu’s plan to divert the dual-carriage road to the beach and to also remind the Mills government of the urgency of the road project.

The three-hour demonstration affected the free flow of traffic. The demonstrators carried placards with the inscriptions, “Remember the World Bank or else calamity, No dual-carriage through the sea”, “No dual-carriage, no vote”, “We are tired of the dust”, “Demolish those houses to pave way for the road”, “2012 is our Hope” and “Joe Gidisu should Apologize”.

The police had difficult time controlling the demonstrators. When they got to their final destination, they decided to continue to the District Assembly Offices to present the petition to the DCE of the Area, Mr. Bernard Frank Amable.

They finally returned to Viepe, and waited for the DCE to come for the petition. Instead, the Security Co-ordinator of the area, Col. Dorvlo, taught it unsafe for the DCE to meet the demonstrators since some of the youths are calling for his head.

It took Mr. Alex Segbefia, the Deputy Chief of Staff, who for strange reasons was once again in the area, to receive the petition on behalf of the government, after which he told the demonstrators that “The Aflao-Denu portion would be expanded into a dual-carriageway, and that the dual-carriage would not pass through the beach again”.

“The government is a listening one, and would not ignore your views over this issue”, Mr. Segbefia said, and asked the demonstrators to exercise restraint as owners of property supposed to be demolished for the job were notified and the compensation is being worked on for work to commence.

Mr. Segbefia also assured them that the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), and the firm handling the project, would be asked to regularly water the road to control the dust.

Mr. Javis Coffie, Secretary to Aflao Youth Association and spokesman for the people, in the petition to the authorities, said that the rising population of Aflao and its status as the country’s gateway, demanded the construction of the dual-carriage, to uplift the town, adding that the beach side diversion was unpopular with them

“We want the expanded road only through the town and not the beach as it shall be washed away by the sea”, Mr. Coffie said, pointing out that the road would facilitate economic development, improve the image of the country and accommodate the growing vehicular traffic.