A low-bed truck belonging to the Central Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) under the District Roads Improvement Programme (DRIP) has been partially burnt following an accident and left abandoned in the bush for several months.
The truck, with registration number GS 1611–24, is reported to have caught fire after the driver ran it into a ditch along the Pokukrom–Mfanteman stretch.
An eyewitness, who was later commissioned to keep watch over the vehicle, told Citi News that “the driver who appeared drunk ran into a ditch along the Pokukrom-Mfanteman stretch deep in the night.”
He further explained that the fire started when the driver attempted to force the truck out of the ditch, causing the left axle to burst into flames.
Recounting the incident, the eyewitness said:
**“I heard the sound of a vehicle, so I came out, and it was just the driver inside. I asked why he was alone, and he said he was okay. Just when I returned to the house, I heard a blast sound, and when I returned to the vehicle, it was already in flames.
“My wife and children brought water while I helped the man to douse the flames before calling the fire service to intervene.”**
Following the incident, the truck remained abandoned in the bush for about two months before the cabin was towed to Dunkwa-On-Offin in the Upper Denkyira East Municipal Assembly two weeks ago. The trailer, however, remains abandoned at the accident scene as of the time of filing this report.
Despite the incident occurring several weeks earlier, the National DRIP Coordinator, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, was not informed until last week, when he toured the Central Region to inspect the state of DRIP equipment.
Citi News has gathered that the coordinator subsequently ordered the affected vehicle, along with all other DRIP machinery belonging to the Central Regional Coordinating Council, to be towed back to Cape Coast. He also reportedly cautioned against the use of DRIP equipment for any purpose other than road maintenance.
Meanwhile, Central Regional Minister Eduamoah Okyere Ekow Panyin had, a few months ago, inaugurated a reclamation committee to restore lands degraded by illegal mining activities.
The committee is chaired by the Central North Regional Police Commander, ACP Abraham Acquaye, with members including the Central Regional NADMO Director Kwesi Dawood, as well as representatives from the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), National Security and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
However, there appears to be little visible impact from the committee’s work. A recent Citi News visit to communities including Pokukrom, Kissikrom, Powerline, Agya Addo and Mfanteman along the Dunkwa-on-Offin–Nkutumso road showed that illegal mining activities continue unabated in the area.
Vanderpuye orders probe into burnt DRIP machine in Dunkwa-On-Offin
