The traditional authority in Tumu has given residents and business operators who have encroached on the road corridor leading from Tumu to Léo on the Burkina Faso border two weeks to vacate the area to pave the way for major road construction.

The directive follows the government’s decision to include the international trunk route in the “Big Push” infrastructure initiative, aimed at improving trade and transport links between Ghana and Burkina Faso.

At a stakeholder engagement with affected residents and business operators, Godfred Baveru Kanton, Secretary to the Landlord of Tumu, Jantina Baba Tommie Kanton, said all encroachers must dismantle illegal structures and clear the marked road reservations.

“That road existed for over 80 years; the road demarcation has been there, and it has been known as an international road,” he stated.

“Those of us who have encroached on the road, he wants them to go and prepare themselves and move so that the road construction will take place.”

Mr Kanton also warned political leaders against intervening on behalf of affected persons to prevent enforcement of the directive.

“He is also actually warning the Member of Parliament and the Chief Executive. He knows people will run to them as politicians to seek support. Even though they lobbied to get the projects, they should stay away from coming back to him to appeal,” he noted.

He urged owners of containers and kiosks along the corridor to remove their belongings to avoid losses when the demolition exercise begins.

The traditional authority commended the President for prioritising the road network in the Sissala enclave and appealed for Mawums, the contractor working on roads in the area, to be retained for the international corridor.

It cited the company’s work on the Tumu-Sissily road project as evidence of its experience in the area.

MP backs clearance

Member of Parliament for Sissala East, Issah Mohammed Bataglia, backed the call for the road corridor to be cleared, saying the long-term economic benefits of opening the route to Burkina Faso outweighed the difficulties individual residents might face.

“The President is not trying to cause harm or make vulnerable people much more vulnerable, but to open up a system that will enhance economic activity in our area,” the lawmaker said.

“We see the vision is bigger than just individual pain.”

Mr Bataglia said opening the corridor would boost local trade, improve highway security and create opportunities for young people through transport-related businesses.

He assured residents that engagement would continue to minimise the social impact of the demolitions while ensuring that the contractor faced no unnecessary obstacles.

Kanton SHS appeals for internal roads

The road redevelopment plans are also expected to affect public institutions in Tumu, including Kanton Senior High School.

The school’s Headteacher, Mahamudu Zakaria Savei, described the condition of the school’s internal roads as severe, saying erosion had rendered some routes impassable to vehicles.

“They are seriously deplorable... erosion has taken place, and some of them are actually unmotorable,” he stated.

He said the school had not seen a major intervention of that nature since its construction in the 1960s.

“Since the construction of this school around the 1960s, we have not had any major interventions like this. If the roads are fixed, coupled with the fact that there's also a strong promise to upgrade the school from Category B to Category A, it will give the school a befitting environment to improve teaching and learning.”

Mr Savei appealed for the commitment to fix the school’s internal roads to be honoured.

“It’s only our hope that the promise by the Chief Executive, who is an old boy of this school, the MP, the Minister himself for Roads and Highways was here, and then he still categorically stated that these roads within the campus will be fixed.”