Some residents of Wa Municipality in the Upper West Region, especially commuters, have lamented over the delay by the Department of Urban roads to repair malfunctioning traffic lights at major intersections in the town.

One of the traffic lights has ceased operating for 35 days now and there has never been any attempt by the authorities to get it fixed.

The now faulty traffic light was installed in the heart of the district, just a few steps away from the Wa daily market, over three decades ago. It has four major roads leading to the intersection where it is located thus, making it the busiest place in the municipality.

A number of road traffic accidents have occurred at the intersection as a result of the malfunctioning traffic light.

According to reports, the situation worsens at night because the area's street lights are also off, causing chaos.

In an interview with JoyNews, some residents called for the situation to be addressed.

“We need traffic lights, operational ones that can be at most of the intersections so I was sick and tired of this situation when we saw the way the Policemen, most especially the MTTD people under the scorching sun would have to stand for well over 35 days, we thought it was going to be one week or two days kind of thing. But as we speak now, people are suffering, the Policemen themselves are suffering and then we are unable to get the authorities to talk to us," said Sulemana Issahaku.

Another resident, Yandaw Malik Saeed said: “This one can cause a whole lot of accidents and these days, we have been hearing that people are dying almost every day...the traffic light is there to direct who may be going and coming and now that the traffic light is not there, everybody will be in a hurry to go or come.”

“We are always afraid sometimes if we are passing by at night, there is nobody here directing so I am always afraid to pass,” another resident, Ismail Abubakar told JoyNews.

Corporal John Drah of the Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate (MTTD) noted that while some road users obey Police directives, others don't.

He added that some people use the excuse of going to pray at 6.30pm to avoid obeying Police orders.

“Our duty is that the moment it’s time for these people, I have to pull them to come, when it’s time I will cut them off and pull these people, but some of them have decided not to obey my instruction. So there is nothing I can do,” he said.