“The concerns of the people are my concerns” – Lawyer Francis Sosu on why he wants Madina roads fixed

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina constituency, Lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu has said, he led his constituents to protest over bad roads recently to help bring an end to the suffering which has been in existence since time immemorial.

Speaking on Face to Face on Citi TV, Lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu noted the concerns of his constituency members are his concerns, reason he agreed to the demonstration since that has been the only language which government understands.

He noted that the deplorable nature of the roads affect economic activities among other critical issues in the constituency, adding that the indigenes, who are mostly commercial drivers and traders, suffer extensively using the road.

“I can tell you on authority that if today – there is a major outbreak in Danfa, or around its environs and there becomes the need to secure fire tender through that road, I can tell you by the time they’ll reach there, the whole community would be damaged. If there is a major robbery activity going on now over there and we need the police service and further assistance from the military – by the time they’ll get there, the robbers would have left.

“And the worse is human life, we have the Danfa health Centre there, people go there to deliver among others. If any of the women who go there to deliver develops complications and requires an emergency surgery, they’ll not survive; the person will die using that road. So the road discussion is a serious thing, that’s why I’m so serious and passionate about it” he told Umaru Sanda.

He added, “The contractor has said, he’ll be on site two weeks’ time. I’m looking to see how it will go. After two weeks if nothing happen, I can assure you – the concerns of the people are my concerns, if there are things I can do within my limited space, I’ll do but we will continue to mount the pressure until government responds to our needs”.

Roads Minister before Parliament

The private legal practitioner further revealed he has personally taken steps to haul the Roads and Highways Minister, before Parliament over the poor nature of the roads.

He says his observations show that the contractor, working on the road network, has not shown demonstrable competence in executing the work.

According to him, the posturing of the contractor demands answers from the sector minister on how the contract was even awarded in the first place.

“I have heard the contractor on other media platforms, and I get the impression that he is not a serious contractor. So I have filed an urgent question already in Parliament, and it is to bring the roads minister to the floor of Parliament to come and answer to the people of Ghana the criteria used to select contractors to work on roads in Ghana and what kind of punitive measures are there if they fail the people of Ghana; we need to know.”

The MP added that there is enough cause to believe that roads have been left unattended after the contracts have been awarded as a result of the government giving out such contracts to party apparatchiks.

“The times when these roads are awarded as a “Thank You” package to some party faithful is passed. So the Minister should come and answer. If I look at the calibre of this person who claims to be a contractor having a contract from the government worth GH¢11 million, yet doesn’t have a grader or an austerity measure and the people are crying for the roads to be fixed; then the Minister should come to Parliament and answer,” he said.

Demo

The MP led residents within the La Nkwantangang-Madina Municipality to protest over poor road network in the area on Monday, October 25, 2021.

The angry residents blocked the Ayi-Mensah, Danfa, and Otinibi stretch as part of the protest to express the constituency’s displeasure over the devastation caused by recent heavy rainfalls, which flooded and trapped some constituents in their homes.

Some of the protestors called on the government to without delay deploy contractors to fix their roads.

Mr. Xavier-Sosu said his checks reveal that most of the roads have been awarded to contractors but all efforts to get them on site have proven futile, thus the need for the demonstration to put pressure on the government to get them fixed.

Complaint

After the demonstration, there has been complaint against two police personnel from the Madina MP, to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.

The officers cited in Mr. Sosu’s complaint are ACP Isaac Kojo Asante, the Greater Accra Regional Operations Commander, and ACP Eric Winful, the Adenta Divisional Commander.

Delivering his ruling on the complaint, the Speaker of Parliament indicated that he was concerned with the conduct of law enforcement officers towards MPs.

He also said he will issue a statement on the matter in due time.

“The committee will investigate the complaint and will submit a report to the house for the whole consideration of the matter,” Mr. Bagbin said in Parliament on Wednesday.

“At the end of the day, it is the House that will determine whether the complaint and the report with whatever evidence gathered really did constitute contempt of Parliament.

“I receive complaints. I receive information about police service personnel pursuing Members of Parliament on both sides of the house, and I have on a number of occasions intervened to talk to the authorities and to draw their attention to the law.

“Members of Parliament have some special rights because of the peculiar nature of the position, functions, and duties of the Member of Parliament,” Mr. Bagbin stressed.