Residents of the Asuokow community in the Lower West Akim Municipality in the Eastern Region have called out President John Mahama over his failed promise to construct a bridge for them, following a viral video of two school children crossing a stream using a fallen tree.
It will be recalled that engineers from the Ghana Armed Forces have visited the Asuokow community following President John Dramani Mahama’s directive to tackle challenges being faced by schoolchildren who are forced to cross a dangerous water body to access education.
This follows a video which emerged last year of two young pupils struggling to cross a stream on the back of a piece of log at Asuokow.
The situation prompted a reaction from President Mahama, who quickly addressed the dangerous situation in a Facebook post in February 2025 detailed that the community had been identified and immediate steps were being taken to provide a lasting solution.
President Mahama stated, “Earlier today, the MP for Lower West Akim, Owen Kwame Frimpong, visited the Asuokow community and assured them and the Eastern Regional Minister will also visit as we work to permanently and urgently resolve the challenge the people and the schoolchildren are confronted with”.
Also, the late Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, before his tragic death, revealed Engineers of the Ghana Armed Forces visited the area to assess the situation.
The late Dr Edward Omane Boamah, back then, stated, “Engineers of the Ghana Armed Forces have already visited the Asuokow community (where young schoolchildren have to cross this water body to access school) in the Eastern Region”,
“As President John Dramani Mahama assured Ghanaians, we’re working to permanently and urgently resolve the challenge the people and the schoolchildren of Asuokow are facing,” he added.
However, in recent times, Content creator Amaro Shakur, in the video, has revealed that the bridge has still not been constructed one year on following President Mahama’s directives.
In a viral video, he stated, “The president himself posted about it on X and Facebook, saying because of these kids, they will be constructing a bridge for them. These are the children whose video came out. It has been one year now”.
A resident in the area also stated in the video, “The school is over here, so all the children pass through here to go to the school. What is even more painful is that they have removed the tree that they said was risky for kids to walk on, cutting the tree and are selling it.
We are begging them, the bridge they promised to construct, but there was no truth in it; they did not construct it”.
The residents further revealed that one person fell in the stream and died, as they were not able to save that person’s life.
In his post, Amaro Shakur captioned his video calling on the presidency, saying, “Mr President @GhanaPresidency, please the bridge still hasn’t been constructed. They urgently need this”.
Some netizens reacting to the video stated, “Why do u tag the president on every issue/problem? Why do we elect mdce’s, dce’s, and assemblymen? And even a regional minister.
It’s about time u identify what must and what must not be the calling on the president”.
“This river does not need a bridge; they have a bridge at the roadside that links to their house. That’s my hometown”, a netizen claimed.
“We can’t keep begging for a bridge in 2024. Is Ghana only Accra? Our leaders need to wake up and fix this-how long must we wait for something so basic?”, a netizen added.
One more X user stated, “So all the rush and urgency that came after the video broke out on the internet was just for nothing. The where clear directives given to that regional minister”.
“H.E. @JDMahama, what disappointment was that? We all praised the efforts announcing the construction of the bridge, only for us to hear today that the bridge was never constructed. This is unacceptable. This is shameful. Get that bridge done asap” an X user added.
Watch the video below:
Mr. President @GhanaPresidency please the bridge still hasn’t be constructed. They urgently need this. pic.twitter.com/rxtRzjkGUU
— Amaro shakur official (@amaroshakur_) February 16, 2026