A scuffle broke out between the police and some residents of Shama in the Western Region during a demonstration by the residents.
Drivers in the area parked their vehicles to join other members of the community to demonstrate against the bad nature of roads on Monday, July 3, 2023.
As part of the demonstrations, they blocked all major roads in the constituency to express their unhappiness with the government’s failure to fix the roads.
This left many commuters stranded and brought all economic activities to a halt.
An attempt by the police personnel on the scene to remove the blockades was met with fierce resistance from the agitated demonstrators.
This resulted in a heated argument as the police were relentless and fired several warning shots to dispel the crowd.
Calm has, however, been restored to the area.
Meanwhile, some traditional leaders who are dissatisfied with the state of affairs in the district joined the drivers in their demonstration.
The acting Queenmother of the Shama Traditional Council, Nana Akosua Gyamfiaba, stated that all of their appeals to authorities for assistance had yielded no positive results.
She said they discussed the next steps with Roads Minister Kwesi Amoako-Atta, but nothing positive came out of it.
“The Roads Minister called and told us that if we demonstrate and the roads are not done, there is nothing we can do. We have informed the Western Region Minister, DCE, and all others about our problems, but nobody is taking any action, so we have decided to register our anger through demonstration. Nothing is happening in Shama under this government,” she said.
District Chairman of Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), John Amoh, also lamented the suffering drivers are going through because of the deplorable nature of the roads in the district.
He added that they will continue to demonstrate until their grievances are addressed.