Residents of Anloga and Susuanakyi, In Oforikom Municipality of the Ashanti Region, are blaming the government for the death of at least one of the two persons who were swept away by flood currents to their deaths during Thursday’s disastrous floods in Kumasi.
The angry residents say many people had been swept away in the wild currents of the flood after a rickety wooden bridge over the Susuan stream collapsed under the weight of people who were crossing it to get away from floodwaters.
That particular bridge had remained unchanged even though residents say they had appealed to the government several times to replace it with a concrete bridge.
When the government failed to come to their aid, residents then repaired the bridge on their own on five occasions, with the unprofessional repairs, making the bridge a death trap for a long time before Thursday’s floods.
On the day, a 53-year-old mother of three, Akosua Dufie, was said to be one of a number of people using the rickety wooden bridge when it gave way under them and they plunged into the floodwaters.
A second hands clothes dealer, she was said to be returning from the market when she met her untimely death. She is the second person to be confirmed to have been killed in Thursday’s floods along with one Mohammed Awal who had been swept to his death at Sawaba.
“I am going to organize my people. There would be a massive demonstration. Although they say we are in Covid era, I am going to beat that protocol and make sure that what Anloga we need, normally get it,” Assemblyman for the area Solomon Kumi, has vowed.