MP for the Naleirugu Gambaga Constituency, Alhaji Baba Seidu Issifu has stated that several appeals have been made to the government regarding the collapse of two bridges in East Mamprusi, but these appeals have been to no avail.
According to him, the first bridge in Tempela collapsed about two years ago, and when this happened, he made appeals to parliament, asking the minister to do something about this unfortunate situation.
“I am told that the Regional Minister attempted to go there but couldn’t get there because there was another bridge that also collapsed this year. Leaving Tempela as an island. I can tell you on authority that all appeals on the rescue of these communities are to no avail, and it is a very warring situation for me as an MP.”
Alhaji Baba Seidu
He mentioned that the regular collapse of bridges was one of the predicaments of the people in the constituency, indicating as stated earlier, that one bridge collapsed two years ago, and the recent collapse happened four months ago.
Alhaji Baba stated that the Regional Minister is yet to arrive in Tempela in order for him to understand the predicament of the residents in Tempela.
“I need to keep putting pressure on them because the MP may not have the budget to be able to fix this road and fix the bridges so, I’ll keep pushing. Alternatively, what we’re also looking at is to see whether we can do a foot path if we finally do not get them to respond.”
Alhaji Baba Seidu
“I think that we all have to call on the government”, he suggested, adding that everyone, including the media, has to keep exposing the predicament of the people.
Negative Impact On Socio-Economic Activities
The collapse of the two bridges in the East part of Mamprusi has gravely affected the socio-economic activities of the residents in the vicinity. Access to healthcare and education has also been negatively affected by this predicament.
The collapse of these bridges has also affected the use of one of the major roads in the town which for many years has served as the key component for the social economic activities of the local population and has also been the link between the Upper East Region and the North East Region.
The road has been completely inaccessible for the first time in its history and this has affected the jobs and livelihoods of the people who are mainly seasonal farmers and petty traders. The citizens threaten not to vote in the next elections if the government does not attend to their needs.
Farmers are unable to visit their farms to harvest their produce and this produce end up perishing. Teachers have also abandoned the schools in the communities and school children who could not attend classes during the rainy season have refused to go back to the classrooms. Also, health facilities are not being patronized because there are no vehicles to transport patients and people find it difficult to access these facilities.
READ ALSO: Ofori-Atta Won’t Be Able to Convince Parliament to Approve Budget – Kwesi Pratt
