In 2019, when government announced 2020 as “The Year of Roads,” many communities across the country and commuters here in Accra heaved a sigh of relief.

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who made the announcement in Parliament on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 when he presented the 2020 Budget Statement and Economic Policy said, the cry everywhere in Ghana was about the poor state of roads, hence the decision to concentrate on that sector.

His statement was not far from the truth as over the years successive governments had been hit with a dozen spontaneous demonstrations and protests from citizens demanding the immediate construction or repair of their bad roads.

While these demonstrations may not be happening this year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana, people continue to lament the poor nature of roads within their communities.

In the capital, the situation is getting worse as newly constructed tarred roads are developing potholes and competing with non-tarred ones for attention.

From Spintex, to Dome Kwabenya to Nungua, most major road networks within Greater Accra can boast of at least one or two potholes.

Some of these holes, so deep in depth that they have been termed ‘manholes’ by commuters and drivers; continue to cause unnecessary traffic and in some cases, fatal accidents.

 Photojournalist Sammy Moore tells JoyNews, the June rains have also caused more potholes to develop on some new roads.

According to him, the rains also fill up these holes, causing drivers who are not familiar with ‘their location’ to drive through them instead of avoiding them.

The worrying situation makes one wonder when the projects listed by the Finance Minister last year, will commence.

Apart from the construction of new roads, Mr. Ofori-Atta said government would undertake routine maintenance activities on 11,100km trunk, 25,000km feeder and 6,500km urban road networks across the country.

The maintenance activities according to him will include spot improvement, re-gravelling, resealing, asphaltic overlaying, partial reconstruction, and bridge maintenance.

“As part of our new initiative to complement the traditional execution of road projects, we have launched the Accelerated Community Road Improvement Initiative. The Ministry of Finance has released funds to the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, who are busy working on some roads in communities in Greater Accra.

The first phase of the Sinohydro arrangement, he announced, is finally taking off.

“We have also been able to mobilize the financing for over 150 roads nation-wide,” he told Parliament in November.

Now, the rains are in and the roads are getting flooded. So until these potholes are fixed, one must learn to identify as many potholes as possible on all the major roads in Accra, so it will be easier to dodge them every day.