- “I had to put off my TV set during his [Amoako-Atta] press conference… because the cocktail of propaganda was too much. He seems not to be taking his credibility seriously."
Mensah Thompson, the executive director of the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), has laughed off the commitments on roads made by the sector minister over the weekend, describing them as a “cocktail of promises”.
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, said 6,000 out of 11,000 kilometres of road are to be completed under the government’s second Year of Roads programme.
Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Sunday 23 May 2021, Amoako-Atta set out key projects totalling 6,000 kilometres of road surface, to be completed under the critical, cocoa, town roads and asphalt overlay programmes and the Sinohydro Master Project Support Facility.
Speaking on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday 26 May, Thompson said Amoako-Atta was only “rehashing issues of roads that have been there since this government was given power”.
Question of “credibility”
“I had to put off my TV set during his [Amoako-Attas] press conference … because the cocktail of propaganda was too much. He seems not to be taking his credibility seriously.
“After so much borrowing, we have not seen any roads, gutters nothing! What we have been asking for is that, where is the money?
“On record you have shown that you [the Roads Minister] cannot do anything …” Thompson said. And the ASEPA boss claimed: “This government’s achievement in the road sector is in the president’s home town and that of the minister.”
Minority will oppose
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament has served notice that it will oppose a reported government plan to increase road tolls again in an effort to fund road construction and maintenance.
“The Roads Minister is unable to tell the Finance Minister to de-cap the Road Fund,” said the ranking member of Parliament’s roads and transport committee, Governs Kwame Agbodza, in a Citinewsroom.com report.
“In the 2021 Budget, the Finance Ministry agreed that the Road Fund gets about GHC1.8 billion, but only GHC1 billion will be available. The Finance Ministry takes the [remaining] money away and uses it for consumption.
He added: “We agree with government that we must get more resources to the Roads Ministry to improve our roads. We will support the government in that endeavour, but we will not support the government to increase road tolls unless the government is able to de-cap the Road Fund and give all that money to the Roads Ministry, and then we can discuss the gap that will be left.
“Till then, they cannot get the support of our side of the House to increase road tolls.”
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
#NPPInfrastuctureRecord
