The trouble with Ghana is simply and squarely a failure of leadership and that was manifested ubiquitously in President Akufo-Addo’s insatiable desire to see the construction of a national cathedral.
He wants that done under his leadership when the country has numerous challenges including lack of footbridges on its major highways, leading to the untimely deaths of many ordinary Ghanaians.
One of such deaths was the murder of a young lady on the Adenta-Madina highway, a surburb of Accra, Ghana’s capital city on Thursday 8th November by a speeding car as she attempted crossing the road.
The construction of the highway commenced in July 2008 and was handed over in June 2018 without footbridges, leading to the deaths of many in their attempt to cross it.
According to official figures, 24 deaths and 64 injuries have been recorded on the Highway this year. However, per reports in the Ghanaian media about 200 pedestrians died on the highway this year.
For years, those living alongside the highway called on government after government to fix the uncompleted footbridges, to put a stop to the unnecessary deaths being recorded on it.
Six footbridges, which were expected to make the road safe for users have been abandoned half-way for close to 10 years and it took a massive protest following the death of the young girl to catapult the Akufo-Addo government into action.
A joint statement by Ghana’s Ministries of Roads and Highways and Interior on 9th November announced work on the six uncompleted pedestrian bridges on the Adentan-Madina Highway in the Capital will start within a week.
The statement further directed the Ghana Police Service to deploy officers of the Motor Traffic Unit to prevent further deaths on the Highway.
The swiftness, with which the government announced the commencement of work on the uncompleted footbridges, is a clear indication that the only message it understands is violent protest.
This is captured succinctly by Chinua Achebe in his book “The Trouble with Nigeria”. He said the trouble with Nigeria (and by extension Ghana) is simply a failure of leadership. There’s nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian or Ghanaian character.
The problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are hallmarks of true leadership.
Source: Africafeeds.com
