It sounds more like an Ananse story than a 21st Century development in the Republic of Ghana. The President of Ghana goes on a campaign tour and is told that the people of Agordeke cross the Volta Lake in make-shift boats, putting lives at risk.
In his magnanimity, as father of the nation, the Head of State promises to provide the people with a new ferry. True to his words, Mr. John Dramani Mahama turns up at Agordeke during his ‘Accounting to the People’s Tour’ in a brand new ferry and, indeed, commissions it, to the delight of the people.
After the ceremony, an official announcement goes forth that the Head of State is taking an inaugural ride in the ferry, which was to take him to the other side of the lake. Jubilantly, the people wave their President and benefactor farewell, in the expectation that the new boat would return to relieve them of their burdens.
Unfortunately, that was the last time the new boat was ever sighted. The ferry never returned after the President had made his journey to Kpando-Torkor. In place of the excitement, the people feel used and betrayed.
The absence of the ferry has negatively affected their socio-economic development. In their anger, the people are threatening to vote against the President and his parliamentary candidate for the constituency, especially since no one has deemed it fit to tell them what has happened to the ferry.
Like the people, The Chronicle is worried stiff about this development. The absence of the ferry means quack transport owners are exploiting them by deploying boats without trained personnel to man them. These boats, a number of them not river worthy, do not have trained personnel to attend to problems during crossing. They do not have life jackets and expose passengers to all manner of problems.
The Chronicle learns, from a staff working on the ferry, that the boat developed a fault immediately after commissioning. An order for spare parts was placed abroad to fix it. Apparently, the parts have failed to arrive since.
We do not believe an order for spare parts to operate a boat should take infinity, and that the problem could be more than the failure of the relevant spare parts to arrive. Whatever is the case, we would like to believe that the Volta Lake Transport, and the Ministry of Transport, which owns and run the ferry, would take the people at heart and inform them about what might really be happening. As it is, the people are of the view that they have been short-changed by the President and all his men.
Mr. John Dramani Mahama, the Head of State who made the promise to the people, and, indeed, commissioned the new boat, is too busy on the road campaigning to be re-elected to know what is happing to the ferry. But surely, there must be a state official with the brief to unravel the mystery. On too many occasions, lack of adequate information has created very serious problems for the poor people. What is worrying is that those who fail the information test are never subjected to any sanctioning.
We would like to believe that someone would own up and tell the people of Agordeke something. The ferry was not a gift to the people from the President and his aides who want to claim credit for using state resources in the service of the people. It was purchased from scant state resources. The people have a right to demand the ferry’s return.
It cannot continue to be out of service while the people suffer.
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