It is the voting powerhouse of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), amassing over 80,000 votes in the last general election.

But Mampongteng, capital of the Afigya Kwabre municipality, has no single kilometer of tarred road after detaching itself from the Sekyere district, 35 years ago.

Weekly maintenance at the fitting shop is taking a chunk of drivers’ daily sales, and food vendors are also reeling from the impact of the deplorable roads.

After yielding to a sweltering afternoon as they go about their daily activities at the town centre, residents of Duadema are saddled with the deplorable road links in the community.

From one dangerous sway to dodging a beckoning pothole, motor users have to carefully navigate the kilometer stretch of untarred road.

It’s an onerous task for commercial transport drivers at Mampongteng taxi rank: one consuming much of their already diminutive fuel volumes.

Not only are they reeling from the exorbitant fuel price, but a weekly maintenance and servicing of their vehicles is scraping a chunk of their sales.

The road stretching from Dumanafo links the Mampongteng township to the renowned Bonwire Kente town, and the warrior’s land of Ejisu.

The once tarred road ridiculed by potholes was graded for a new road construction but residents say its current state is worse off than before.

Food vendors are not only battling to rid their dishes of flies but dust, too.

Auntie Zuweira sells a variety of local cuisines on this stretch.

In 2019, President Akufo-Addo cut sod for the commencement of a 5.5km town roads project for Mampongteng.

But, the project has since been abandoned by contractors following the delight that greeted the ceremony.

The local traditional council is unhappy that the people’s highest percentage of votes for the ruling NPP could not earn them access to good roads.

Barima Saase Ayeboafo II is the Chief of Mampongteng.

As faded as the colours on this huge billboard of the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area and the President, so is the heart of the many electorate gradually losing their love for the ruling NPP.