A section of the Atebubu-Kwame Danso road
The poor road network in the Sene West District of the Bono East Region continues to be the major challenge facing the people of the area, as the situation has adversely affected the socio-economic advancement of the place.
The main highway linking Kwame-Danso, the district capital, to Atebubu appears to be the most talked-about road in the Bono East Region. It was awarded on contract over a decade ago, but virtually nothing has been done on the road.
A visit to the Sene West District by the Daily Statesman revealed that in addition to the main Kwame Danso-Atebubu highway, none of the major feeder roads in the district is motorable.
Some residents who spoke to this paper recounted the ordeal pregnant women and lactating mothers, as well as the rest of the people, go through in traveling on such ‘death-trap’ roads in accessing health care services.
According to them, school children are forced to abandon classes during the raining season as a result of the worsening state of the roads in the area. It comes as no surprise to them that the district’s performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination over the years is also nothing to write home about.
Nana Narbi Dengah, the queen mother of the Dwan Traditional Area, is therefore calling on the government, through the Ministry of Roads and Highways, to come to their aid as a matter of urgency.
Fulani herdsmen
She also expressed grave concern about the invasion of their farmlands by Fulani herdsmen over the years.
According to the queen mother, several acres of farmlands are destroyed every crop season by these Fulani herdsmen, but the Police have failed to arrest and prosecute any of the herdsmen despite several reports made to them.
“When the Fulanis invade your farm, destroy your crops and you report it to the Police, they will ask you, the victim, to go and apprehend the Fulani yourself or bring one of his cattle as evidence before they (the Police) can take any action and so because of the herdsmen have been having a field day here in the Sene West district,” Nana Narbi Dengah told our reporter at Kwame Danso.
She added: “It is now unsafe here to even go to farm alone because these herdsmen sometimes subject the innocent farmers to all kinds of brutalities.”
Nana Agyei Nicholas, a farmer, corroborated the queen mother’s assertion, saying he lost about four acres of yam plantation to the destruction caused by the Fulani herdsmen while several other farmers in the area have also not been spared over the years.
DISEC in control
When contacted, the District Chief Executive for the area, John Nyaba, said the District Security Committee (DISEC) had taken a serious note of the activities of the Fulani herdsmen in the area, and instituted measures to flush them out of the place.
For instance, he said, DISEC has set up a committee to deal with any Fulani herdsman whose cattle destroy any farmland in the area.
“If your cattle destroy a farm, you would be made to pay for the damage caused and also be fined an amount which is about five times the cost of the damage caused,” he told our reporter.
One the road network, he said work was expected to resume any moment from now on the much talked-about Atebubu-Kwame Danso road.
The DCE said construction work done so far is just about 13%, but expressed the government’s commitment to ensuring the completion of the road soon.
He also gave the assurance that some of the feeder roads in the district will soon receive attention to facilitate socio-economic activities and also make life quite bearable for residents.
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