Roads: The people of Tarkwa deserve better
The condition of the Tarkwa road has left motorists and pedestrians incensed. Now, traditional leaders are even leading local people to launch a series of demonstrations on getting their roads fixed – yet the problem gets worse day by day
Ghana is heavily endowed with natural resources – both black (oil) and yellow gold, diamonds, rubber, timber, bauxite, manganese featuring among the most important in a long list. What counts for Ghanaians, however, is whether these resources have been used for the benefit of citizens.
For the purposes of this piece, I will focus on how such resources have benefited their host communities, perhaps an easy way to ensure development in resource-rich enclaves and to a larger extent the regions where they are located.
Let’s first take a look at one of the popular resource-rich host communities here in Ghana. Your guess may be as good as mine, Tarkwa if that is what came to mind also. But you will still be on track if you thought of a different area because the story might not be too different there.
The age-old gold mining town, Tarkwa is situated about 50km away from Sekondi-Takoradi, the Western Regional capital approximately an hour and 35 minutes drive.
Tarkwa, believed to be Ghana’s largest gold mine, produces more than 7000 ounces of gold annually for export.
According to the businessworldghana.com, the quantum of gold produced in Ghana from both large and small-scale producers increased by 12% in 2016, from 4.287 million ounces in 2017 to 4.795 million ounces in 2018 which is said to be the highest level of output in more than three decades, other articles I sighted also put it at a 40-year high of 4.13 million ounces.
Also, Ghana’s annual gold revenues rose to US$5.15 billion in 2016, a 55% increase from 2015.
Similarly, in August 2017 the Ghana Chamber of Mines published aggregate data on payments that its producing member companies made to the Ghana Revenue Authority in 2017, stating that its companies paid more in corporate taxes of GHC970 million/US$204 million than they did in royalties, GHC702 million / US$148 million.
With proven data and figures of revenue generated from gold, we cannot downplay the role Tarkwa plays in Ghana’s foreign exchange earnings. It is the hope of many, especially indigenes of Fiaseman, that Tarkwa should at least boast of a smooth ride in and out of the enclave if nothing at all, at least that alone should be a legacy of what they give the country or they risk their lives to feed the entire country.
Although the road network within the Tarkwa township has seen some improvement, they have not expanded to meet its ever-growing population leaving commuters and transistors in heavy traffic, if you are a stranger and do not know about the long winding road apart from the main station road that exit the town.
As a journalist who started my career in Takoradi, I have travelled a good number of times to cover events and also on a personal assignment in Tarkwa. It means I am a little conversant with that road.
For close to a decade or more, the 66 kilometre Agona Nkwanta, Tarkwa stretch of road which is the only link to Tarkwa from Takoradi has been in a very bad shape, some might say bad is an understatement and I agree, it’s so bad that as the rains set in again, I am sure a lot of drivers, who ply that stretch, have started mending their vehicles. Those who are raising their wheels to be able to cross the expected self-made lakes and pools on the road, I am sure are also doing that.
For the unprepared “virgins” (drivers who just move their vehicles without checking the condition they are in or move them knowing they are faulty) who will not take extra oil, they will have their lamps out.
The Wassa Agona, Simpa, Tetrem and Nsuaem portions of the road are in very deplorable conditions and need urgent attention.
The president in 2021 again cut sod for its reconstruction. The project, estimated to cost 95 million Euros, would be undertaken by M/S Gabriel Couto-Rango Consortium and expected to be completed in 36 months, but the contractor is yet to move to site.
The mining companies there are doing much in the name of their corporate social responsibilities in the areas of education, health and other infrastructure projects they have spearheaded within Tarkwa and its surrounding communities and towns.
It is said that the haulage of heavy-duty machinery reduces the life span of the roads in such mining areas but like any other business the mining companies pay taxes and other charges which are supposed to cater for the maintenance of the roads and for further development, unless the Minerals Royalties Act says something different.
The question is: Are they expected to use their profits to better the lives of the people or the government is to use the revenue generated from them for the purposes of the collection, to ensure development through the provision of basic amenities i.e potable water and electricity, quality roads (that can withstand the pressure from the heavy duty vehicles which ply their route), easy access to quality health care, education and more?
Whichever way this question is answered, the bottom line is, the people of Tarkwa deserve better than what they have now.
They are the ones directly affected when there is a mining related disaster in that enclave; when there is mercury pollution and every negative incident, they bear the brunt of it all, why can’t they have a fair share of the positives thus the profit which goes into the “preparation” of the national cake, Tarkwa and such resource-rich areas should be made to enjoy the icing on the cake.
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