Two years after committing GHS 160,000 of his personal resources to the rehabilitation of the Dotom-Koniyaw-Kokotro road, Bekwai MP Hon. Ralph Poku-Adusei has made another financial intervention to revive works on the same stretch.
The latest support, amounting to GHS 30,000, is intended to provide fuel for a District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP) machine whose operations stalled after running out of fuel.
The money has been allocated equally among Dotom, Koniyaw and Kokotro, with GHS 10,000 going to each community.
The intervention brings the MP’s involvement with the road into a new phase, shifting from direct financing of road works to supporting the operation of government-provided machinery.
In 2024, Mr. Poku-Adusei, who was then Parliamentary Candidate, committed GHS 160,000 towards reshaping and surfacing the road after a reported tragedy involving a pregnant woman who died while being transported along the badly damaged stretch.
The incident had intensified concerns over the consequences of poor road infrastructure in the affected communities.
At the time, DRIP equipment had not yet reached the Assemblies, prompting the MP to finance the emergency works from his own resources.
The intervention helped restore temporary access to the communities, but the road has once again deteriorated, bringing the issue back into public focus.
This time, a DRIP machine is available, but its operation has been interrupted by a shortage of fuel.
Community efforts to raise funds to keep the machine running reportedly proved inadequate, leading to renewed appeals for assistance.
Following engagements with local stakeholders, Hon. Poku-Adusei responded with the GHS 30,000 intervention.
The MP, however, has maintained that his latest contribution should not be mistaken for the permanent answer to the problem.
He wants the road to move beyond periodic reshaping and receive full construction and tarring.
To that end, he said efforts are underway to encourage contractor B. Beniako to return to site and complete the road project, whose contract was reportedly awarded in 2019.
The MP has also renewed his focus on other major road networks in the constituency, including the Kensere-Biribiwomanmu-Pampaso and Anwiankwanta-Poano-Sarfokrom stretches.
“The roads are essential to the economic and social wellbeing of communities because they facilitate the movement of farmers, traders, students and patients. These interventions in the wider area have also included support for electricity expansion at Koniyaw, a borehole at Asokore, the Dotom-Kokotro bridge and fuel support for road works on the Kensere-Biribiwomanmu-Pampaso stretch,” the MP explained.
Assembly Members Mr. Boat, Hon. Mavis and Hon. Ken Oppong Kyekyeku have expressed appreciation to the MP for responding to the road crisis.
For the communities, the immediate concern is to restore the road’s motorability.
But the larger expectation remains unchanged: after years of temporary interventions, residents want the Dotom-Koniyaw-Kokotro road completed and properly constructed so that another emergency rescue will not be required in the future.
