Okoe Boye at the end of the road on the "hopeless" Lekma stretch

General News of Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-07-16

The inhabitants of Spintex, Batsonaa, Nungua, Teshie and Labadi will have to be more patient, as the 7.5 km Lekma road will not be built any time soon.

Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, MP for Ledzokuku Krowor, said his efforts to get help from his colleagues in power have all been frustrated.

"All I can do is advocate. I spoke to the chief of staff who told me, "Doc, we know that your route is important, we are doing everything to bring it to fruition". I spoke to the minister, he told me "Doc, your way is so important …" I do not want to mention names, but I've talked to a lot of people so say: "We know that your path is important and we will work on it …", he told Evans Mensah on Monday of Newsnight Joy FM.

He said the officials had given him a lot of badurance but he could not say what the obstacles were.

The MP, who is also a doctor, said that the resources needed to build the road exceeded his strength "so I have to do a lot of advocacy and follow up."

Officials of the Ledzokuku Krowor Municipal Assembly are under pressure for deplorable link roads in the region to be held responsible for the destruction of vehicles and the respiratory infection of residents.

Locals accuse the Akufo-Addo-led government of failing to honor their promise to repair the roads when they are elected. Vehicle owners are not the only ones affected by bad roads, but other companies along the stretch are also paralyzed.

Mr. Boye, who also chairs the board of administration of Korle Bu University Hospital, said that he had immediately started repairing the road that put him in touch with the subcontractor who had started working at the time of John Mahama.

The contractor explained that there was an exceptional certificate of approximately $ 25 million which had not yet been processed to allow it to complete the work.

"I have collected all the certificates and started going to the Ministry of Finance until they meet the contractor and pay for one of the certificates. The contractor badured that he would visit the site, "he said.

The contractor never returned and the Ministry decided to cancel his contract and retained the services of a Nigerian company.

"The condition to which the contract was awarded in November 2018 was that he had the necessary funds to fully execute the contract, so that he would be remunerated according to the agreed terms. He promised to complete the 7.5 km dual-road route in 12 months, "he said.

More than three months later, the contractor kept the promise that he was waiting for his equipment to arrive from Nigeria.

Apparently, they never did it. A few months ago, the Ministry of Finance had to look for a new company with the necessary funds to carry out the project.

Perhaps the pre-financing option is not working in the near future because the so-called new contractor is asking for documents from the finance and highway ministries to free their funds.

The MP who works at Lekma Hospital said he had skipped his Monday shifts in the last two months because frustration had become unbearable.

He said people were asking him, "Why are you here to consult when the road is so bad?"

"Some people feel that this road is about the electoral fortunes of Dr. Okoe Boye, that's not really the case. This road will determine if you will survive or die in an emergency, especially if you stay in Spintex, Batsonaa, Nungua, Teshie and Labadi, Lekma is your best choice as a referral center, "he said. he declares.

He cited the example of a gynecologist who had ordered the hospital not to call him in case of emergency because he had almost lost his life after braving the road in the middle of the night to operate a patient.

"Other doctors called not to cooperate. It is also true that pregnant women close to childbirth may suffer from antepartum hemorrhage because of the bad road that will threaten their pregnancy, "he noted.

The MP said that he had documented this and more and that he had sent it to the relevant department so that he understands the urgency of the matter a year ago. , but there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.

"One year after I put it on paper, I followed it every day. Sometimes I spend an average of three days out of five at the Ministry. I spend more days in the ministries than in the House of Parliament … ", he said.