There is an urgent need for all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to be proactive and responsive to the needs of people in their jurisdictions by making effective use of the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) equipment to address major challenges relating to roads and bridges.
The recent floods being experienced across the country should serve as a wake-up call for engineers and planning officers at the assemblies to respond swiftly to the urgent infrastructure needs of their communities. Residents of Ashiaman and Kpone-Katamanso, in particular, continue to face serious challenges due to poor feeder roads and roads that require gravelling and rehabilitation.
These views were expressed by the President of the Serial Callers of Ghana for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Joseph Awuku, Ashiaman NDC communicatin during the Adekyee Mu Nsem panel discussion on Ahotor 92.3 FM, hosted by Citizen Kofi Owusu in Accra.
According to him, the Ministry of Local Government should issue an urgent directive to ensure that DRIP equipment is fully deployed, especially as floods continue to affect many communities. He noted that some of the machines are lying idle at Metropolitan and District Assemblies, while residents continue to suffer from flooding and poor road conditions. He argued that many of these local challenges can be addressed by the assemblies without waiting for intervention from the central government.
He further stated that the previous government spent significant amounts of money on flood management over the past eight years without achieving the desired results. He also described it as unfortunate that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is, in his view, attempting to politicize the recent flood disaster.