Residents along the approximately 4.5-kilometre Narita Gardens to Lente-Wute road in the Yame Electoral Area of Ketu South, Ghana, can finally breathe a sigh of relief as a local businessman, Mr Felix Akakpo, known as Akonta, has taken it upon himself to reshape and improve the long-neglected road.
For years, this stretch of road had been in a deplorable condition, riddled with potholes, causing immense hardship for the communities it served. However, a recent tour by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) revealed that road equipment was actively working to smoothen the road's surface. Volunteers also played a crucial role, providing not just manual labour but manual engineering expertise to address specific problem areas, such as the low-lying and flood-prone spot at Kpatako.
One of the volunteers, Mr. Moses Kukanu, who leads a group of commercial motorcyclists, expressed gratitude for the philanthropic effort, saying, “We came on our own to offer manual help. We have been calling for something to be done about this road to make it more accessible. But for years, nothing happened.”
Agbotadua Geli, a community leader in Lente-Wute, echoed the sentiment of the local residents, thanking Mr. Akakpo for his benevolence and commitment to improving the age-old road. He highlighted the lack of attention the road had received over the years and the immense challenges it posed to the communities along its path.
Assemblymember for Yame, Mr Paul Geli, also emphasized the positive impact of the road improvement on the electoral area, noting that the road's previous state had affected everyone, particularly women and children. He stated, “There has not been any real improvement on the road. It's bad that our women normally go on foot because when you attempt to hire a motorbike, the riders charge so high.”
Madam Ama Adoku, a resident of Kpatako, expressed her gratitude to Mr Akakpo and hoped that with the road's reshaping, commercial vehicles would once again ply the Lente-Wute to Aflao network. She believed that this improvement would facilitate commerce in the area.
Mr Akakpo, a native of the region, shared his motivation for taking action, saying, “As a native of the area, and having seen the difficulty with which the people traverse the road, my gesture was a widow's mite contribution to reshaping the road to make travelling on it comfortably.” He expressed hope that the appropriate authorities would address the road's issues permanently in the future.