Walking on the community’s principal street, one is greeted by sounds of music emanating from shops that dot the shoulders of the road. Observing from afar, it appears all is well with the people here.
About one kilometer from Mallam Junction entering into the Mallam township, Borla Road is on the left turn.
Residents who live on that stretch of the road have for years been crying over the poor nature of their road and drainage system.
They are not only tired battling dust on the road but also concerned with how the road networks are rendered un-motorable whenever it rains.
Taxi drivers who ply the Borla Road are equally worried:
“We have to change our vehicles’ shock absorbers every two weeks. The road is really having a toll on us,” says driver Jeremiah Quaye.
For David Kojo Martey, the drivers have resolved to vote against the government if the road does not get the necessary attention.
26-year-old Worlanyo Innocent is a chemical seller whose shop is close to the road. He says his major concern has to do with battling the dust.
“For the dust issue, it disturbs me as a chemical seller. I have to be cleaning every day,” says worried Worlanyo.
Madam Margaret, who sells foodstuffs, shares Worlanyo’s concern. “I have been here [selling along the Borla road] for eleven years now. The road has been the same since. During the dry season we battle the dust and whenever the rains set in, the story worsens.”
On March 15, 2016, just a day after I interviewed the Borla road residents, I went there to assess the situation there. With an umbrella over my head and standing under a leaking roof of a kiosk, I stood watching cars that plied the road. For over 15 minutes I stood watching, the only vehicles that I saw passing by were KIA trucks and Pickups.
Williams Noble, a resident, tells me most drivers fear to use the road when it rains because the main bridge connecting the community divided by a gutter is not in good shape and easily get flooded. The unsafe situation there is worsened by a fuel station built on the way preventing free flow of rain water.
Following last year’s deadly flood, authorities in the capital city promised to halt the activities of the fuel station. Indeed the Total fuel station does not operate any longer, Innocent noted that nothing has been done on getting the gutter to dispel its contents across the N1.
“Our lives are endangered. Anytime it rains, for even 10 minutes, the land gets flooded because the water in the gutter hits at the point of the fuel station and returns to flood our homes,” he says.
Adams Gariba, also a resident, who insisted on having his say, tells me of another plan – a demonstration!
“We will soon block the Borla Road to embark on a serious demonstration as a way of registering our displeasure over the poor nature of the road,” he says.
Until the appropriate authorities give a listening ear to the residents living on the stretch of the Borla road, at Mallam, we wait but a demonstration by the aggrieved residents.
Source: Solomon Mensah | 3FM | 3news.com
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