Affected farmer/anonymous writer.
I write anonymously on behalf of hundreds of desperate farmers whose livelihoods have been impaired due to the construction of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.
Months ago, officials cleared our farms, destroying our cocoa, food crops and oil palms.
We stepped aside willingly because we were promised prompt, fair compensation.
While the media recently reported that a first tranche of payments was made to over 450 farmers, a massive, forgotten number of us have received absolutely nothing.
Our lands are gone, we have no alternative incomes, and our children’s school fees are due.
When we try to ask for updates, we are met with total silence.
The Ministry of Roads and Highways, the Ghana Highway Authority and the Land Valuation Division have become completely unreachable.
No one is giving us definite payment dates.
Development should not destroy the citizens it claims to serve.
You cannot take a farmer’s only source of survival and abandon them.
We appeal to the media to investigate this delay.
We urge the Minister of Roads and Highways and the project coordinators to break their silence and immediately publish a clear, transparent payment schedule for those of us left behind.
Source: newsthemegh.com