Minority in Parliament has slammed the government over the move to reintroduce the collection of road tolls, stating that it is a testament of “a government that is wayward.”
The Ministry of Roads and Highways has recently begun consultations with key stakeholders to finalise the reintroduction of road tolls, a means to raise funds for the maintenance of the country’s deteriorating roads.
Minority Chief Whip and MP for Adaklu Constituency, Governs Kwame Agbodza, addressing the press on Wednesday, chastised the government’s decision, stressing that it highlights a lack of seriousness and proper governance.
“That is quite an interesting position by the current road minister. In fact, is it not the case that he was part of the cabinet when the decision was taken to suspend the collection of tolls and when Mr Speaker and all of us drew the attention that, that singular action was illegal, they told Mr Speaker to go to the toll booth to collect the toll himself if he likes. This is just a testament of a government that is wayward, lost touch and doesn’t know what they want.”
“Cabinet decided to suspend the collection of tolls as propaganda to foist E-levy down the throats of Ghanaians. We are paying E-levy today. They want to take more money from you so they are coming back to condemn each other to say that they want to collect tolls. Then the entire government is condemned. They cannot pick and choose who is upright in the government.”
“We have been consistently saying that there was no need to suspend the collection of tolls. So, Ghanaians can see which part of the political divide can be trusted and is consistent with policies in this country.
“And obviously the NPP’s record of being straight and fair to Ghanaians has been called into question so many times,” he said.
Effective November 2021, the government ordered the suspension of the collection of road tolls across the country in a bid to ease traffic congestion at toll booths and in the hope that a portion of the e-levy revenue would be committed to maintaining the roads.
However, the e-levy appeared to have failed to generate the necessary funds since its passage, a development that has now led to the need for the reintroduction of road tolls.
Source: 3news.com
