Three communities in the Ahanta West Municipality of the Western Region, risk being cut off from the rest of the district due to a dilapidated wooden bridge.
The 13-year old wooden bridge on the Butre Lagoon, which has not seen any major repairs, recently took the life of a seven-year-old schoolboy who fell off while crossing it.
In a report by Citi News‘ Akwasi Agyei Annim, the Assemblyman for Butre, Matthais Otoo indicated that he had petitioned the authorities of the area over the poor state of the bridge.
“Three months ago, the bridge collapsed and set a death trap. Some communities use that bridge and they do business [in the other communities by crossing the bridge]. So it is a source of worry for us over here.”
“Few days ago, we lost someone. Because of that, I’ve written a petition to the MP and MCE but they couldn’t respond. So we need government or anyone in charge to come and support us,” he said.
A woman who spoke to Citi News about her fears in using the bridge as well as eyewitnesses who saw the death of the primary schoolboy who fell from the bridge threatened not to vote again, following their claim that they had written several letters to the local authorities to fix the bridge but to no avail.
However, the head of the Works Department of the Ahantan Municipal Assembly, Victor Mensah said he has no knowledge about the state of the bridge.
He spoke to Citi News: “I am not aware of the state of the bridge but it’s a good thing that you mentioned it. My department will make a follow-up and will give recommendations as to how best we can fix the bridge.”
Dilapidated bridge in the Ashanti Region
Recently, residents of Esreso-Adagya in the Bosomtwi District of the Ashanti Region threatened to stage a massive demonstration over the poor nature of a bridge in the area.
According to them, about eight lives have been lost in the area due to the nature of the bridge.