Fix dangerous roads - Methodist Bishop of Accra to govt
The Methodist Bishop of the Accra Diocese, Rev. Emmanuel Borlabi Bortey, has called on the government to fix the major roads in Accra which have become a danger to motorists and the public due to their poor nature.
He noted that the dual carriageway from the Kasoa toll booth to Kaneshie, for instance, became impassable anytime it rained.
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“The Kasoa-Kaneshie road becomes impassable any time it rains and we wonder whether or not our road engineers have no solution to this problem.
“Building activities on the hills on that stretch of road are a time bomb; the vegetation cover has been cleared and the soil exposed and the possibility of a massive landslide in future cannot be ruled out,” he said.
The Bishop made the call at the 61st annual synod of the Accra Diocese in Accra on April 28, 2022.
Accra Synod
The 61st synod, dubbed: “Discipleship: Living the transformed life in Jesus Christ towards implementing the Agenda for Revival and Growth”, brought together all heads of the Methodist Church in the Accra Diocese, including the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo.
Others were the Director of Public Relations of the Methodist Church Ghana, the Very Rev. Eric Amihere; the Diocesan Coordinator of Communications and Publications, Accra Diocese, Rev. Isaac Oduro-Boateng, and members of the Methodist clergy in Accra.
The event was held to discuss issues in the church to find solutions to build a better church.
Traffic
Rev. Bortey said the stretch from Kaneshie First Light to the Obetsebi Interchange also needed to be efficiently policed to get rid of the numerous commercial vehicles which had reduced the three-lane to one, rendering the Obetsebi Interchange ineffective.
“Reaching the overhead from the Kaneshie Market is always a nightmare because of the indiscipline of our commercial drivers. I trust the national service persons recruited as a task force to enforce the decongestion of our city will be able to bring discipline,” he added.
He also said the Kpone-Dawhenya stretch of the Accra-Aflao Highway was a huge embarrassment to the nation.
He said due to the huge increase in residential accommodation, the single lane highway was unable to cope with vehicular traffic.
“It takes over an hour to transit that stretch of the road at any time of the day. We plead with the government to treat the problem as an emergency,” he said.
Methodist schools
Rev. Bortey also called for a facility inspection in all Methodist schools in Accra under its education unit, saying the inspection would facilitate the maintenance of the schools to avoid dilapidation.
He noted that it was important that schools under the church became centres of excellence to exude the image of the church.
He recommended that funds be raised from the celebration of the Education Week to ensure the maintenance of all school structures under the education unit.
"No Methodist school should be seen to be looking dilapidated. To ensure compliance, we hereby request our Education Unit to conduct inspection of our facilities and present us with a report for the needed action," he stressed
Clean Environment
The Accra Bishop commended the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council for the Operation Clean Your Frontage initiative, intimating that the initiative required the active collaboration of all citizens, with the church being no exception.
“Let us educate our membership on this policy directive and the sanitation by-laws of our assemblies: each household is required to clean its frontage and maintain a clean environment,” he added
On plastic waste which had become a nuisance, Rev. Bortey charged members of the church to mount intensive education on plastics for people to separate plastic from other waste materials for recycling.
Rev. Dr Boafo advised members of the church to live exemplary lives as Jesus Christ did.
He called on the members and society to live lives that would bring about transformation, which would in turn impact society.
He added that the Accra Diocese of the church was working on activities in terms of education and sanitation to support the government’s policies to make the country a better one.
