FLASHBACK: If you say the system is broken, fix it! – Akufo-Addo told following Madina-Adenta saga

President Akufo-Addo may have to face his ‘karma’ as words from his past seem to be coming back to bite him following attempts to address the issue of accidents on the Madina-Adenta highway. The President, commenting on the latest accident on the stretch and its after-effects, attributed the unfortunate situation to infrastructural problems ‘which are legacies of a past decade of neglect”.

“….Our nation has suffered an unnecessary loss. “The scenes that played out in its aftermath are regrettable, and should not happen again. “The Ministry of Roads and Highways is ensuring that work begins on completion of these bridges in the course of the coming week, and has put together a comprehensive plan to address systematically all these infrastructural problems, which are legacies of a past decade of neglect”.

Speaking on the subject on CiTi TV’s ‘Big Issue’ however, Private legal practitioner and member of the National Democratic Congress, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo described the move by the President as ‘unfortunate’. He sees no reason why the President would resort to ‘blame games’ when he has the power to change things, even things he says were ‘inherited’ by the past administration.

Recalling his (Akufo-Addo)’s response to the late President John Evans Atta Mills when he blamed the woes of the economy and country on the bad leadership of the Kufour Administration, Mr. Samoa Addo said;

“This is what Akufo-Addo said when President Mills of blessed memory said that he inherited a bad economy, “I say to President Mills today; if you say the system is broke, fix it!…excuses can never be a substitute for vision and purposeful action and can never lead to the better Ghana we were promised”.

“That is the situation”, he continued, “When you are voted in power, you inherit both liabilities and assets, if the past government has failed to put up the bridges, you are now in power. We have a ministry for inner cities and Zongos, we have a road ministry. The problem and if you want to be very honest, the problem is a funding issue. The road fund has been cupped, it is not as if there’s no budget for this issue, it is a funding issue. Where are the funds? If the funds are not released to the technocrats, there is no way they can fix it”.

Mr. Addo, though commended government’s swift response to the chaos on the stretch Thursday November 8 wondered why the appropriate stakeholders had to wait for lives to be wasted and ‘force’ to be applied before they acted.

“Sad situation, very unfortunate, what has been the response of government? I think Government has also reacted with a bit of speed, given the measures that have been outlined but did we have to get to this point? That is the question everybody seems to ask. If the streetlights could be fixed the next day, if contracts could be given in a week and 6 contractors are supposed to do this work, then what was the problem, where was the excuse? When you tell us on the other side that there has been 10 years of neglect, then you are pushing us to get into the politics of it, it becomes a political issue and it is a political issue because at the end of the day, people have been voted into power to solve problems”., he noted.

Meanwhile, Mr. Samoah Addo commended the police service for their intervention in the chaos that broke at the Madina-Adentan highway Thursday.

“The police must be commended for not overreacting. I think when things got worse was when there were throwing of stones, a bit of confrontation, I think they did well but they must exercise a bit more restraint. Yes, you have to maintain law and order, but you can restrain your people a little so as to allow the people but I must commend them for being able to within a short time, control the crowd and allow traffic to flow”, he stated.

Background

Government has revealed six contracts have been awarded to different companies to fast-track the construction of some six uncompleted footbridges on the N4 highway, streetlights have also been fixed and orders have been made for road markings and road signs to be fixed.

The action comes on the back of violent protests by residents of the Madina-Adentan area after an 18-year-old student was knocked and killed by a taxi driver on the highway on Thursday.

The first-year West African Secondary School (WASS) student was on her way to school when the unfortunate incident occurred sparking the riots that left motorist in traffic for hours.

Police put the death toll on the highway, this year alone, at 24 with 164 injuries.

Many months of protests by the residents for streetlights, road signs and the footbridges to be completed in order to save lives were ignored by government but the death of the female student was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

The residents in anger blocked the highway and burnt tyres to register their displeasure at the unnecessary deaths on the road.