Residents of Bakpa Kpokorfe in the Central Tongu District of the Volta Region have resorted to using a farmland tractor to reshape their deplorable roads after repeated appeals to the authorities for intervention have yielded no results.
The frustrated residents, led by their community leaders, hired a tractor fitted with a plough to undertake the road rehabilitation through communal labour, attracting hundreds of community members who turned up to contribute to the exercise.
Their action, The Archive gathered, follows several appeals to the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Alexander Roosevelt Hottordze, and the District Assembly to deploy equipment under the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) to reshape the roads.
However, their pleas have fallen on deaf ears, leaving the community with no option but to mobilise resources to undertake the work themselves.
The residents, have also questioned the whereabouts of the heavy-duty earth-moving and construction equipment provided under the DRIP initiative, which is intended to support the rehabilitation of deplorable roads across districts.
In a one-minute, 22-second video shared by local radio station Dela Radio, the residents expressed frustration over what they described as the government’s neglect of the area, accusing the MP of failing to deliver meaningful development despite over 12 years in office.
“In fact, Central Tongu, we are not getting anything from the government at all. Even the road from Mafi Adidome through Bakpa New Town to Fievie Dugame and Sogakope Comboni is in a very poor state. The communication network is also poor,” one of the residents lamented.
The visibly agitated residents, who gathered in their numbers at the communal labour site, said the deplorable condition of the roads had persisted despite their repeated calls for intervention.
They further questioned why the community continued to suffer from poor road infrastructure, despite having residents with close connections to the MP, including his driver, who they said hails from the area, Bakpa Kpokorfe.
The residents expressed disappointment over what they consider the lack of attention to their development needs, insisting that their resort to using a farmland tractor underscores the extent of their frustration with the authorities.
