The Toll Workers Association of Ghana has urged the government to recognise the mistake in its decision to eliminate toll booths and to contemplate a new strategy.
This comes after Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), advocated for an expanded road toll system to finance the development of the nation’s road infrastructure.
In 2022, Ghana abolished road tolls to alleviate traffic congestion on major roads. The Vice President, while touring the Volta Region, suggested that a broadened reintroduction of the tolling system would generate the necessary revenue for infrastructure development.
Responding to citizens’ concerns about the poor condition of roads during a meeting with the clergy in the Volta Region at the start of his tour, Dr Bawumia stated that the government lacked the funds to carry out infrastructure development and suggested that innovative methods such as road tolling could provide a solution.
However, Edward Duncan, General Secretary of the Toll Workers Association of Ghana, stated in an Eyewitness News interview on Citi FM with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Friday that they have consistently argued that the decision to scrap the toll booths was a significant error.
He stated that the government hastily made the decision, which is why it needs to reconsider its approach.
“…We have said that this scrapping of tolls was a big mistake that this government made. All they have to do is to just accept that they made a mistake and then see the way forward. They should also make us understand that it was a rushed decision, they never thought it through before they took that decision even though respectfully I know it happened in a cabinet. It was a cabinet decision,” he stated.
He added, “But I believe that if they had thought it through. From all that they are saying now and the promises they gave they would have finetuned it so that as soon as the closure happened the things that they said they were going to do for us they would have done it.”
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