The Ho Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Divine R. K. Bosson, has said the Municipality has benefited from road infrastructure under the current Akufo-Addo-led government particularly under his watch as MCE. 

This, the MCE asserts, ranges from the opening of “new roads, grading and reshaping as well as reconstruction of existing roads”.

The MCE revealed that: “The Assembly’s tender board has completed an evaluation of the contract bids, and the report forwarded to the Volta Regional Coordinating Council for a Tender Review Report, a pre-approval, and subsequent award of contracts for work to begin on these roads within the Ho township.”

Touting a few of the road infrastructure completed under his watch, the MCE mentioned the “completion of the 10.5 km Sokode – Ho Dual carriage road; the reconstruction of the following roads; Residency, Civic Centre, Poly Junction to Adaklu, OLA Top, and even the road just behind you to the assembly junction”.

To ensure pedestrian safety, the MCE noted that speed bumps were undertaken on roads including: “Nfodjo road around the SDA School, C.K. Road and Ho Aflao road.”

He further revealed that contractors were currently on site to restore one of the roads that were destroyed by the recent floods around the children’s park, after which they would move to other areas including: “Adzimah Korpe, and Mawuli Gate ARS road.”

He commended some youth of Ho who staged a peaceful demonstration and assured them of his commitment to ensuring a beautiful city, Ho.

“I would like to inform you that I Divine R.K. Bosson is in a hurry to see the Municipality develop into a beautiful city just like you all gathered here. Most especially because it is my dream that, I lead the municipality into a metropolitan status before my tenure of office. But let's not also lose sight of the fact that utilsing public funds requires due diligence and the observation of strict protocols in order not to fall short of the Public Financial Management Act,” he said.

The MCE was responding to a petition presented to him by protestors who took part in a demonstration organised by a group calling itself the Concerned Citizens of Ho.

Some residents of the Volta Regional capital, Ho, today, Thursday, 9 November 2023, held a demonstration in display of their growing dissatisfaction with the deteriorating state of roads, bridges, and culverts within the municipality.

The demonstration was organised by a group calling itself Concerned Citizens of Ho.

In recent times, several bridges and culverts have fallen into disrepair, causing major accessibility issues throughout the Ho municipality. 

As a result, residents have been faced with deteriorating road conditions, severely hampering vehicular movement in the municipality.

Before the protest began from the Alale/Amegashie bridge, Convener for the group, Vincent Hodoli, who addressed the protestors, urged them to stick to the agreed route and ensure a peaceful demonstration. 

He reiterated their reason for embarking on the protest to draw government’s attention to the road infrastructure challenges in the Ho Municipality.

The protest then took off from the Alale/Amegashie bridge through Ola SHS traffic light to Ho Civic Centre traffic light through the NIB-Central Police Station/GCB Bank road to the Ho Municipal Assembly, where the protestors presented a petition to the MCE.

The protestors who were clad in red and black were wielding placards, some which read: “What is the urban roads engineer still doing at post? Paapaa talk, no action!, Is this the year of roads, No ooooo,  the chop chop is too much!, Let there be transparency small, Fix the Amegashie bridge now! Eva glo,” among others.

Some protestors who spoke to ClassFM’s Volta Regional Correspondent, Kingsley Attitsogbui, called on the authorities to come clean with them on which contractor is in charge of the various road projects. 

“We heard our MCE saying on radio on record that he doesn’t know who the contractor is and he has not even seen the contract document, is very disappointing,” a protestor said.

Another noted that: “What we’re hearing is that the contract was awarded to the Regional Minister’s wife, that is why we the citizens are thinking that that is why the MCE is not ready to tell us who is the contractor, so there is something hidden.”