The Bantamahene, Barffour Owusu Amankwatia, is pleading with government to turn its attention towards the developmental needs of the Ashanti Region in 2022.

He said Kumasi, the second-largest city in Ghana, is gradually turning into a village.

The Chief wants government to at least construct one fly-over to help with the traffic congestion in the city.

 “When you look at the development in Kumasi, especially our roads, now we would say that the government has started trying to, you know, sort out the inner roads, but then the problem is the sort of traffic jam that we experience in Kumasi.

“Until government tries to build overheads for this city, it will be challenging for us to get over the traffic jams that we have been experiencing,” he said.

Touching on the hospital projects in the city, Bantamahene wants government to operationalise the five stalled projects in Sewuaa, Afari, Fomena, Konongo and Kumena.

According to him, when all these hospitals are completed and operationalised, it will help ease congestion at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and help with the health situation both in Ashanti and Northern Region.

“Komfo Anokye, apart from dealing with major cases, is also saddled with minor cases because there are not enough hospitals in the Ashanti region.

"Because of this, I want to plead with the government that we have Konongo Government Hospital, we have Sewua Hospital, we have Afari and then we have Fomena and then Kumewu they’ve all not been completed.

"Some people are saying that they’ve been abandoned whatever it is I want to appeal to the government that the way things are going, the only way out to help with the health situation in the Ashanti Region and especially the Northern part of Ghana is to make sure that all these hospitals are made operational,” he said.

Speaking with the media at Kumasi, he also tasked the New Mayor of Kumasi to move traders to vacant markets to decongest the city centre.

“We have empty spaces in our market that can house all these people selling on the street. I think the issue is enforcement. People need to be told that we don’t sell on the streets.

"We are telling the Chief Executive to try and make sure that he deals with this menace. I believe it is turning Kumasi into something else,” he said.