Residents of Boadirigu in the Bunkpurugu District of the North East Region have chosen the construction of a bridge over the building of a hospital in their community.
The community which is often cut of from the rest of the district especially during the rainy season believes the construction of a bridge over the stream that passes through the area will bring the hospital and other infrastructure.
A visit to the community by Starr News’ Musah Lansah revealed a huge disconnect between the Boadirigu community and the rest of the district as residents struggle to get to other parts of the area.
A resident of the area Zakaria Tia told Starr News that once it starts raining, parents struggle with their kids as they device means to keep them from going to the stream.
He said, “anytime it rains and the water in the stream rises, we get scared of leaving our children behind. We cannot leave them behind and go to our farms so we nominate one person to make sure our children don’t drown in the stream”.
Mr. Tia told Starr News that several people have died through drowning in the stream. “We have lost children, young men and women in that stream. So our concern is getting a bridge over that stream to save our families”.
Another resident Rakia Gumah revealed that anytime the women go to the market and it rains, they pass the night in neighbouring communities till the water in the stream recedes. She said, “Anytime we go to the ,arket and it rains we cannot come home. We will have to sleep in the other community till the next day. We cannot even do business because we are scared of going to the market”.
Why a bridge over a hospital?
A young man who gave his name as Gumah told Starr News that the construction of a bridge is the most important thing for the community. “As at now, when someone falls sick you cannot send the person to the hospital in Nakpanduri easily because of the river. You cannot do business because whatever ypu buy will be locked up here but if we have a bridge, we can get a hospital, we can get a market here and our people can also trade with other communities”, he stressed.
Poor road
A trip to the Boadirigu community which should take about 7 minutes from the main road will take about 20 minutes due to the poor nature of the road. Filled with sand and gullys from erosion makes it difficult for motorists who are mostly the users of that road.
Ibrahim Tia who uses the road on a daily basis had this to say about it. “The sand makes it diffiicult for us to move and this causes a lot of accidents here. Sometimes too we meet snakes on this stretch. Whenever there is an emergency it causes a lot delays as we can only use the motorbike to carry the sick person to the hospital in Nakpanduri”.
No cellular network
Aside from the bridge, the coomunity’s other headache is the absence of cellular network to make phone calls. Though most the residents own mobile phones, most people use their phones to play music or watch videos as making a call involves a lot of work.
A resident summarises their frustrations, “you see that ladder there, anytime you want to make a call you will have to put it against a wall or a tree in that house so that you get network. Sometimes if you are not careful you will fall. This is worrying us a lot because if there is an emergency you cannot call the ambulance to come and help you”.
MP to the rescue
Following the cries of the people, Member of Parliament for the Bunkpurugu constituency Solomon Boar decided to push for the construction of a bridge over the stream. This is notwithstanding the huge cost implications to the state. Through the intervention a contractor Danjigah COnstruction decided to build the bridge which is expected to be completed in a few weeks. The contractor who spoke off record is sure work will be completed soon to ease the pain of the people.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Musa Lansa
