Ambushed by traffic on Tema-Dawhenya Road – the dilemma of working parents

It is 5: 50am and my children are already in school. Not by choice, but because of the crazy traffic situation they must endure even at their young ages on the Tema-Aflao route every day.

This has been the situation for a long time, but some days are excruciatingly emotional for me as I watch them drag their bags to join their mates in their classrooms. The little tired faces tell that they would rather be in bed, than be in school at that hour.

Abandoned Flyover project at Prampram Junction

I look around and see puffy-eyed parents give quick kisses and hugs to their children and quickly jump into their cars to beat round two of the menace called traffic on the Accra-Tema Motorway. All this is usually before 6: 00am every weekday. However, this morning as I drove to work, a lot of questions raced through my mind.

• How long can we continue to endure hours in traffic every day?
• Why can’t my children have an extra hour of sleep?
• Why has the road construction stopped?

My back hurts from sitting in traffic for hours on end.  Not to talk about the fuel costs which takes away a chunk of my income…This has become the daily reality of residents who live on the Kpone-Community 25-Prampram route.

Change in social dynamics

Prampram is ideally 45 minutes from Accra, yet commuters like me spend over 2 hours every day driving to and from work in Accra. The stress of having to deal with traffic daily makes it difficult to enjoy the life we are working so hard for. Cast your mind back to when you were growing up, what time did you usually get ready for school?

Way back in Chapel Hill in Takoradi, I remember having a good night sleep every day and waking up around 6:30am to even help with house chores before getting ready and make it in time for school. Yes, I understand the dynamics have changed especially with school and their locations etc. but the trend of wasting productive hours in traffic is worrying.

Abandoned Kpone Roundabout

In 2017, a study was conducted by three lecturers, on the impact of traffic on productivity. The study, titled, Traffic Congestion Impact on Energy Consumption and Workforce Productivity: Empirical Evidence from a Developing Country was undertaken by Jonathan Annan, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Ghana, John Mensah Cape Coast Polytechnic, Business School, Ghana and Nathaniel Boso Leeds University Business School United Kingdom.

The findings indicated that Ghana was losing out on millions of cedis in productive hours to traffic congestion resulting in an estimated 8.21percent of Ghana’s GDP at the time. Seven years down the line, I am certain that the figure has increased significantly. While there has been an increase in registered vehicles in Ghana, the road network remains the same, inevitably putting pressure on drivers especially working parents.

Current situation

These days, it is not unusual to see young children between the ages of 5-10years walking or being accompanied to school as early as 5:00am. Honestly, it breaks my heart when I see these poor babies being dragged to school that early.

Trotros (Public Transport in Ghana) are usually jam-packed in the mornings with sleepy school children and as they meander their way through traffic, it leaves less to be desired.

I wake up between 3:40am to 4:00am everyday to get myself and my children ready for school. I factor in the long drive through traffic between leaving home, dropping them off and going to my workplace in Accra and guess, what, that’s about 4 hours! So, by the time, you manage to get to work, you are not just physically tired, you are also mentally drained. But that is no excuse not to work, because you need the income.

Stalled construction works

In 2021, UK Export Finance (UKEF) agreed to provide support to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Roads and Highways, to upgrade the 17km stretch of the existing Tema-Aflao Road. This road is a major ECOWAS trade route forming the Abidjan-Lagos corridor connecting five West African countries including Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Nigeria

Savannah Junction-one of the sites earmarked for a flyover

In view of this, BHM Construction UK Limited was awarded the contract and tasked with the supply design and construction services. The project was to include the construction of a 3-lane dual carriage expressway over the full length of the section, the construction of 2 lanes, one-way service roads on either side of the main carriageway, and the construction of four interchanges at Kpone Barrier, Savanah, Afienya and Prampram.

There was also the provision of drainage systems, provision of pedestrian facilities including bridges and high mast lighting. First Sky Ltd, the local partner of BHM International (UK) Ltd, was to undertake the construction of earthworks, road pavement works and concrete works for the project. The principal value of the UKEF support was pegged approximately at US$92 million.

As residents, we were elated when the project commenced because we knew that by the December 2023, deadline, works would have been completed to ease the pressure quickly. The project commenced alright, structures were quickly marked for demolition, traders along the construction routes were asked to move and then along the line, action stopped. Suddenly there were no earth moving machines at the project site anymore.

Three years down the line, all we have been bequeathed with are uncompleted road works, excavations and structures from Kpone barrier, through Savannah, Afienya and Prampram junction. The conversion of some parts of the road into a single has also added to the traffic, making it difficult to drive within few minutes from one end to another.

This has added on to the stress we already deal with every day on the stretch.

Action by residents

To drive home the need to attach urgency to the completion of the stalled road projects, a group of residents including myself, embarked on a demonstration on Friday, July 11, 2024. We were only allowed to march from the Kpone Barrier to the HFC Estate Junction, which we adhered to.

Residents demonstrating against the abondoned road project

The peaceful demonstration ended with a petition submitted to the Ministry of Roads and Highways. In the petition, we stated that, “In the interim, we demand the immediate grading or asphalting of all inner rounds in our communities, to ease the horrendous traffic situation. The presence of these inner roads, despite their deplorable nature, continues to ease the burden off the main roads.” It’s been four months, and it looks like the situation has gotten worse.

Next steps: fix our roads

On Wednesday November 13, 2024, I got to work so upset after enduring a 2 hours 45minutes traffic that I just pulled out my phone, recorded my frustration and posted it on my Facebook page. In my view I was just highlighting my plight as an everyday commuter; but little did I know the extent that video will reach.

The video resonated with a lot of people especially working parents who bear the brunt of traffic daily. While some shared it widely across whatsapp groups, it also served as a key discussion topic on national radio with major media houses including Citi Fm and Joy Fm driving the conversation.  But beyond the conversations, we want our roads fixed.

On Tuesday, November 19, 2024, during the opening of the Flowerpot Interchange project, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Honorable Francis Asenso-Boakye acknowledged my video.

“In the past days, I came across a trending video of a concerned citizen expressing frustration over the state of the Tema-Aflao Road project. She highlighted the challenges commuters endure, such as waking up much earlier than usual to avoid being stuck in morning traffic, and the inconvenience of children having to rise early to get to school on time. These difficulties are a direct result of delays in completing these critical projects due to the challenges we face, with our creditors under the debt exchange programme.”

He went on to promise that his outfit has “activated maintenance systems to address the immediate issues.”

Dear Hon. Francis Asenso-Boakye, while we are grateful that you have acknowledged our plight, we ask that you stand by your promise and ensure that the maintenance commences in earnest for now, at least.

That way, the pressure on residents and commuters will ease a bit and make our life a little better. Driving for 5-6hours everyday to work and back on a route that should take less than an hour is surely not a very sustainable way to live. We are already dealing with a lot and being ambushed by traffic daily is a dilemma, we long to get out of.

>>>the writer is a Development Communicator, Community Leader, Writer, making a difference through mentorship, provision of school supplies, and hygiene projects for young people. She can be reached via Lorrenciadam@gmail.com. She blogs via lorrencia.wordpress.com and can be reached via LinkedIn as Lorrencia Adam Nkrumah