Authorities say a middle-aged nursing mother, Azara Alhassan of Sagnarigu Dungu Kukou Yapala in the Tamale south constituency met her untimely death on Sunday night when she fell off the Kunyavella bridge.
According to officials, the incident occurred at about 6.00 p.m. A local search team, together with personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service could not find the woman on Sunday night. Her lifeless body was discovered on Monday at a distance of about 700 meters from the bridge. She has since been buried in accordance with the Islamic religion.
Officials said the deceased together with other traders from the Tamale market, got down from a tricycle and tried to cross the bridge which was flooded after almost 24 hours of heavy rain.
An eye witness said the traders were advised to wait for the floods to subside before they could cross over to Kunyavella and Sagnarigu Kukou Yapala but two men gathered courage and went with the woman who was reported to have said that her baby was crying and she needed to attend to her in the house.
According to the eye witness, the woman slipped from the men’s hands and was carried away by the water. All efforts by the eye witness and residents to rescue her failed. The fire service vehicle, upon arrival, got stuck in the mud in the area.
The running water also submerged houses around the bridge and around the Kunyavella dam. Residents living behind Business Senior High School, Kunyavella and Sagnarigu Kukou Yapala blamed the unfortunate incident on the member of parliament for Sagnarigu and the Tamale South Member of Parliament, who is also the Employment and Labour Minister, Mr Haruna Iddrisu for not showing interest in making the road accessible.
Several areas in the Sagnarigu and Tamale metropolis were flooded by the torrential rain which has been ravaging the Upper East and Northern regions for almost a week now. The residents, including the ruling party’s executives told Zaa News that the road has been awarded on contract but the contractors have abandoned the site.
The Sagnarigu Dungu Kukuo NDC “magazier” in Tamale south, Madam Ayishatu Alhassan made a passionate appeal to the Tamale south MP to abandon the water project the government intends executing and instead turn his attention to addressing the deplorable nature of the roads in the communities which has claimed an innocent life.
The residents also repeated their position that politicians will not be allowed to campaign in Gbanbaya and Kunyavella communities if their road problem is not solved.
An angry Madam Aihassan pleaded with the Tamale south constituency to have mercy for at least women in the area. The branch chairman of the NDC at Kunyavella, Mr Siba Abukari told Zaa news that the road was awarded on contract to the NDC regional chairman’s brother.
Mr Abukari who claimed the residents were mounting pressure about the road, urged those who awarded the contract to either terminate the contract or put pressure on him to get back to the site and work on the road.
He added that the Sagnarigu MP had informed him that he was in Accra and the road issue was part of his reasons for going to the capital city.
The men say they are overwhelmed by the difficulties facing their wives. According to Mr Abukari, the contractor was invited to come and explain why the road had taken so long to complete. He promised the communities two weeks ago that he will get back on site but never did so.
Assembly man for the area, Mr Sayibu Abdul Ganiyu said even though the disaster is not only in his area, his electoral area was one of the worst affected. He was not happy about the way and manner people build on water ways.