Ho, Oct. 13, GNA - Some pupils in and around the SSNIT and DOSCA flats in Ho are either staying away from school or going to school late due to their inability to pay a bridge toll of 20 pesewas. A carpenter, Mr Dennis Anku who re-constructed a temporal foot bridge over an over flowing stream connecting a path to Kabore School Complex and other public schools in the SSNIT Flats, insists that the pupils pay the tolls or take long detours walking or by taxis to go to school.

Regular commuters in and out of the area said Mr Anku gets to "work" at the bridge as early as 0500 hours to take his tolls. They reported instances of some school kids having to cry before being allowed passage, with strong warnings to bring the money the next time.

Mr Anku, for convenience, was said to be collecting the tolls on Mondays to cover the week.

Miss Loretha Otabil, a Junior High School student at Kabore, told the GNA that she had to pay the 20 pesewas to be allowed to walk on the wooden bridge and that she had made a report to her class teacher. Mr Anku confirmed the story to the GNA and explained that the toll was to defray the cost of re-constructing the bridge. He said materials bought to fix the bridge cost 8.00 Ghana cedis and that he had managed to retrieve 3.00 Ghana cedis. Ms Perfect Apasu, whose fried yam business around the bridge plummeted as a result of lower numbers of pupils using the bridge, pleaded with Mr Anku to stop collecting the tolls while she contacts people to raise money to pay for his expenses. Mr Anku, the commuters said, was not collecting monies from adults who use the same bridge.