WASS students say they don’t trust gov’t on footbridge promise

Some students of the West Africa Senior High School (WASS) in Accra whose school is located on the Adentan-Madina highway which has become a death trap say they do not trust the government on its promise that construction of the Adenta-Madina Highway will start next week.

In an interview with Accra-based Starr FM, one student said “it is not easy for us to cross the road. Some men have been standing here helping us to cross. The men will come by 6 and leave by 8:30 am. Some people have been knocked down. Yesterday a form 1 student was knocked down and died.”

“We want the government to fix the bridge. We are not convinced about the government’s promise. They said that long ago and they didn’t do it so what shows that they will do it next week. We don’t want to die, they should fix it,” another student added.

On Thursday (November 9, 2018), some residents of Adentan and its environs staged a protest on the Adentan-Madina highway. The residents who burnt car tyres were registering their displeasure over the rampant killing of people on the highway due to lack of footbridges.

The residents blocked the road over the numerous car knockdowns on the stretch because there are no overheads on the road.

The Ministry of Roads and Highways subsequently announced that work on the six (6) uncompleted pedestrian bridges in Adenta will commence within a week.

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Temporarily, the Ministry in collaboration with the Interior Ministry has requested the Ghana Police Service to deploy officers of the Motor Traffic Unit to prevent further deaths.

A statement from the Inter-Ministerial Committee on road safety issued on Thursday night said government regretted the deaths of residents who had been killed by speeding vehicles.

The statement further said work had already been ongoing in recent weeks to address the situation and that procurement processes were now near completion.