Residents of Baafi, a farming community in the Nkoranza North District of the Bono East region are threatening to boycott the upcoming 2019 referendum due to the bad nature of their road.

According to the residents, the Akufo-addo-led government has neglected them and denied them of their fair share of the national cake.

The convener of the aggrieved residents, Mr. Appiah Anthony who lamented the deplorable nature of the 3-kilometer feeder road linking Baafi to Tanoboase, indicated that the poor road network has negatively affected their daily activities and carved them from the rest of the world.

He also said the residents most of whom are farmers find it difficult to transport their farm produce to urban centres to sell them.

Appiah Anthony disclosed that their efforts to draw the attention of the District Chief Executive (DCE), Gifty Akorsah Arthur and the Member of Parliament (MP), Major Derek Oduro (Rtd) to their plights have proven futile.

“We have informed our DCE to help get the road graded but he hasn’t come to our aid…for instance from Baafi to Tanoboase is very terrible such that we can’t go to the market to sell our farm produce. We are really suffering because when it rains we have to stay here with our farm produce and see them rot”, he lamented.

According to him, they voted for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2016 because the Akufo-Addo campaign team promised to fix the roads when voted into power but nothing has been done almost 3 years after the NPP government took over.

Narrating their frustrations, the angry residents said, maternal mortalities have been recorded in the area because women in labour find it difficult to get to health facilities on time.

“Because of the dilapidated roads, vehicles don’t ply our roads and sometimes when somebody is sick and needs to be transported to Techiman or Nkoranza for urgent medical attention, we lose them because nobody wants to use the roads with their cars,” they recounted as they appealed to the MP of the area and the government to come to their aid.

Some residents who narrated their ordeal vowed to get everyone in Baafi and the surrounding villages to boycott the referendum and the 2020 general elections.

“Since the NPP government and our MP have refused to listen to us and solve this challenge, we won't take part in upcoming referendum and we won’t entertain their campaign in 2020,” they posited.

For the first time in the history of Ghana, the Electoral Commission (EC) will conduct three elections comprising District Assembly Members, Unit Committee Members and a Referendum on Sunday, December 17.

Source: Eric Nana Prekoh/Ghanaguardian.com