The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II abandoned the comfort, luxury and safety that come with air travel when he embarked on a four-hour journey from his Kumasi base to Accra by road.
The decision to endure the bumps, the uneasiness on the Kumasi Accra road, the busiest highway in Ghana was to afford him the opportunity to assess the state of the road after several complaints by motorist, chiefs and a cross-section of the Ghanaian public.
The bad nature of the road, especially the Suhum-Apedwa section of the highway gained prominence in July this year when some chiefs in the Eastern region led by the Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panyin toured roads in the region to ascertain the level of destruction.
At a news conference after the tour, the chiefs described as shame the inability of the country after 50 years to connect its two commercial cities, Accra and Kumasi, with an accessible road to enhance trading activities.
In accepting the Ghana Journalist Association invitation to address the 19th awards event which took place last week, the Asantehene decided to embark on the journey by road.
According to a source close to the Asantehene, the move was to enable the King to lobby for speedy completion of that section of the road which has claimed many lives through vehicular accidents.
Source: myjoyonline.com
