The killer bridge at Santa Maria
Residents of Santa Maria Last Stop in the Greater Accra Region last Sunday woke up to the disturbing news of the death of a 15-year-old boy who had attempted to cross the Lafa River which passes though the area.
To their surprise, another resident who is also a reporter with this paper, Mr. Koryekpor Awlesu Freeman, who had attempted crossing the river, was also nearly drowned by the fast running water of the river.
The situation, Today understands, has led to a simmering tension between residents of Santa-Maria Last Stop and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Weija constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, over her alleged delay in releasing money for the completion of a foot-bridge on the Lafa River, which has continually served as a source of worry for the residents, especially during the raining season.
A wooden bridge which they claimed had deliberately been demolished by the contractor of the project on the orders of officials of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has been the cause of the many disasters on the river.
Residents also pointed accusing fingers at the officials of Ga South Municipal Assembly whom they believe facilitated the demolishing of the bridge without calling on the MP for the area to release funds for the completion of a concrete bridge being constructed for the same purpose.
The Assembly Member for Kotoshie Electoral Area of Ga South, Mr. William Otopah, confirmed the demolishing of the wooden foot-bridge, but denied complicity in the demolishing exercise.
He pointed out that the exercise was ordered by the officials of the AMA with the supreme support of the contractor, Mr. Achwek.
“My brother I would like to make it clear to you that I was not even available at the time the contractor came to the area with bulldozers to embark on the exercise.”
Mr. Otopah assured his outfit’s unflinching support to the people in the area, saying that contingency measures have been put in place to get the funds to complete the project to avert further calamities.
Residents however lamented over the recent disasters on the river which they claimed had been a bitter pill which they are painfully swallowing.
“Since the Ga South Assembly has failed or refused to heed to calls to speed up work on the construction of the bridge along the river, there is nothing we can do but to throw our hands in despair and pray to God for protection,” a resident lamented.
A visit by Today to the scene points to a time bomb staring in the face of residents in the area if contingency steps are not taken to complete the bridge before the start of the raining season.
This paper also noticed that the surroundings of the river, known to be heavily flood-prone, was strikingly unkempt with the main drains filled with solid and plastic waste.
A distraught resident stated that “our fear is if it rains today we cannot go anywhere since the bridge which serves as a walk-way through the river has been demolished.”
“The raining season is about to set in, but it seems the central government and city authorities are waiting to be overwhelmed by the floods before they begin to take action,” the resident complained.
Residents also lamented to Today that the situation gets utterly bad and unusable anytime there is a heavy down pour and have thus appealed to the President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, to find a lasting solution to the problem before the worst happens.
“There is no single week that someone particularly school going children don’t fall into this Lafa River all because there is no walk-away across the river. For us here, seeing accidents along this river is a usual phenomenon which we have accepted,” a resident told this reporter.
Livid youth in the area, hinted Today that they are planning to stage a massive demonstration to express their dissatisfaction with the said high personalities for demolishing the wooden foot-bridge.
They alleged that Hon. Ayorkor Botchway and Mr. Otopah made them aware that they had allocated GH¢15000 (150 million old Ghana cedis) for the construction of the 20 ft footbridge.
However, numerous efforts to contact Hon. Ayorkor Botchway to get her side of the story proved futile.
STORY: KORYEKPOR ALWESU FREEMAN
