Residents of the Sissala East Municipality of the Upper West Region have­ appealed to the government to fix the Tu­mu-Sakai-Walembelle road.

They want government through its recent District Road Improvement Programme to pro­vide the Municipality with a good road network to boost socio-eco­nomic development.

In an interview with the Ghana­ian Times on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, some of the residents expressed frustration over the continual neglect of the area by successive governments.

They highlighted that move­ment on the roads was ex­tremely dangerous, especially as it becomes slippery and muddy during the rainy season.

A community leader at Sakai, N-dian N-akul Hussein, said farming was the primary occupa­tion in the area, and farmers had to struggle to transport their produce to market on motorbikes instead of vehicles due to the poor nature of the road network.

He added that the bad state of the road which links neighbouring Burkina Faso has made it nearly impossible for trucks to access the routes from there to transport pro­duce such as tomatoes and onions to Ghana, compelling residents to rely on motorbikes for transpor­tation.

A resident, Hanifa Erasung, who operates a provision shop at Sakai, complained that the dusty nature of the road in the dry sea­son exposed them to various acute respiratory diseases, which was a great concern to them.

“My health is at risk due to the dust from the dusty road and sometimes too when you come to the shop in the afternoon you would notice everything been dusty,” she said.

She added that the deplorable state of the roads was taking a toll on their daily routines amidst the grave economic challenges it posed to them.

She appealed to the Ministry of Roads and Highways to fix the road to help boost economic activity and ensure good health in the area.

A commercial driver, Drama­ni Eric, also stated that because of the nature of the roads, they spend much money on the maintenance of their vehicles, a situation he stressed had forced many drivers to stop using the road.

“Last Monday, I loaded some goods and passengers from Wa to Tumu. When we got to Walembelle the vehicle ceased, so I had to look for another vehicle to offload the goods and the passengers. The money I spent to maintain the ve­hicle was not small, I plan to stop this work and look for a different work because we end up using the profit made to maintain the vehi­cle,” he lamented.

He said that many drivers who ply the road had to visit the mechanic shop almost every day as their vehicles break down frequently.

The Assembly member for Sakai Electoral Area, Kan­tongbokuGbene Elijah, com­plained that the heavy tipper trucks plying the road kept worsening the condition of the road every day.

He expressed the impact of the District Road Improvement Programme but was uncertain whether the Sakai community would benefit from it.

The previous NDC govern­ment awarded the contract to repair the road to Fuzak Co. Ltd in 2015.

However, the contractor has not been seen on site, since the change of government,leav­ing the road in disrepair.