DETERIORATING ASHONGMAN COMMUNITY ROAD LINKS - WHY always us?

Returning from school, work or other, to parts of Old Ashongman,an Accra suburb, after a not-too-heavy downpour has not only depressing but mind-boggling.Even more worrying, is having to wade through a pool of spilt flood waters barefooted,before reaching one's destination, in what has become an annual cyclical occurrence.

Flooded bridge en route my destination @ Ashongman

Having lived in this part of town, for close to sixteen years, with the minor roads linking the community to the main road ridden with potholes,keeps me wondering whether the community forms part of the nation's jurisdiction. 

For years, huge water trucks have used this particular route (downtown street), next to the T.I Hamdiyya Islamic School, as their transit to the small "Onyina Ase" water source, for filling and subsequent sale. Also, with the gradual development of a forming community called "Pure water" further down the street, commercial vehicles have resorted to using this same route and others as final passage to this community, some 2km off Old Ashongman-Downtown. 

Residents have to cross this pool, upon return from work when it rains

These commercial-style activities have desperately destroyed the untarred  roads and left them at the mercy of the rains. 

The situation has not been helped by the numerous buildings that have been erected in a waterway, on the right side of the road. 

A consequence of this, is the flooding experienced in the area whenever it rains. 

Potholes ridden downtown street after rain showers. 

Days after the rains, buildings get submerged in spilt running water on the the banks of the channels, leaving residents seeking refuge outside their premises. There have been several calls by dwellers to get authorities of the Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA) to clear all buildings off the waterway and to re-dig the channels to allow running water to flow freely into bigger water bodies at the extremes of the community. 

Buildings being erected on the watercourse, causing floods and subsequent displacement of people

However, these calls have yielded next to no results, as residents continue to experience flooding in the area during the outset of the rains, and devastatingly, too.

In June this year,following a heavy downpour which lasted over eight hours , the area recorded one of it's most terrible flood situations in a very long time.This invited the attention of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) officials to the area,who arrived to register affected residents,for some supposed relief items which never came.The officials were at hand to witness at firsthand,the destruction the rains left in their wake, which at the time, included erosion of the major road parts. 

Untarred road meets major Atomic-Ashongman stretch

Six long months on, the area continues to suffer the vagaries of the weather and activities of commercial bus drivers and water trucks.The state of the road has worsened with the continuous use of it by commercial bus drivers who ply the Madina-Purewater route,thereby creating gullies on the roads,and collecting water in pools and patches. 

Residents in the area,are only left to wonder how long they would endure this predicament, and where help would come from.

Writer:Kingsley Komla Adom, 

twitter:@kingsley_komla

Resident @ Old Ashongman, Downtown Street-Accra