Residents of Nyouri and neighbouring communities in the Nadowli-Kaleo district of the Upper West Region have appealed to the government and concerned agencies to construct a permanent bridge over a waterway that becomes impassable during the rainy season.
The residents say the temporary wooden structure they construct annually to enable them to cross the waterway is frequently washed away by floods, disrupting movement and exposing schoolchildren, pregnant women, and other residents to danger.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Assembly Member for Takpo, Nyuori Electoral Area, Alexis Anzagra, said the situation had persisted for years, despite repeated appeals to authorities and political leaders for a lasting solution.
He said community members resorted to using wooden logs to construct a temporary crossing during the dry season, only for the structure to be washed away when the rains set in.
“Year in, year out, we struggle to fix it during the dry season.
When the place floods, the water carries the temporary bridge away. We then have to come back and fix it again,” he said.
Mr. Anzagra explained that the poor state of the crossing affected residents of Nyori, Berendari, and other surrounding communities, particularly schoolchildren who used the route to attend school.
He said when the bridge was washed away, residents were forced to take longer routes to reach destinations that would otherwise be within a short walking distance.
“Women cannot cross here during the rainy season. Even if they want to transact business less than 800 meters away, they have to travel kilometers to get to the same place,” he said.
Mr. Anzagra said the community’s efforts to maintain the crossing were inadequate because the project was beyond its financial and technical capacity.
He added that he had raised the issue publicly as far back as 2020, when he was working with Radio Progress, and that successive political stakeholders had been made aware of the problem.
He, therefore, appealed to the government, the District Chief Executive (DCE), the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli-Kaleo, and other stakeholders to intervene.
The MP for Nadowli-Kaleo, Anthony Mwinkaara Sumah, said he had heard about the Nyori Bridge several years ago and had previously offered to support efforts to address the problem.
Mr Sumah said he would engage the DCE to arrange for the district engineer to assess the crossing and determine the appropriate intervention.
He explained that the stretch of the length of the span suggested that a simple temporary structure would not adequately address the problem, making a technical assessment necessary to establish the scope and cost of the work.
“This is the best time to do the assessment because this is the rainy season and there is water around the area.
The engineers can assess the situation properly so that we can determine what intervention is required,” he added.
He said the assessment would be submitted to the Department of Feeder Roads for consideration and possible support from its head of office in Accra.
Mr. Sumah expressed the hope that the process would lead to the construction of a permanent bridge to improve access of residents to neighboring communities.
A resident of the Nyuori community, Zumazie Dakura, said the situation was particularly worrying for women, especially pregnant women who needed urgent medical attention.
She said the poor road access could delay pregnancy and labor, preventing them from reaching health facilities, potentially endangering both mothers and their babies.
“Imagine a pregnant woman in labor. Because of the bad road, by the time she gets to the hospital, the baby could die in her womb,” she said.
Ms Dakura appealed to the MP and the government to intervene urgently, warning that the difficulties faced by women in accessing healthcare could have serious consequences for maternal and newborn health.
