Story: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
Chairman of the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament, Member of Parliament (MP) for Akim Swedru Constituency in the Eastern region, Mr. Kennedy Osei Nyarko, has maintained that the government’s statistics on constructed news roads were based on reliable data.
During the 2022 State of the Nation Address, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo told Parliament that his government had constructed 10,875 kilometers of new roads in the last five years.
Speaking on Citi TV’s current program, Point of View, the Chairman of the Roads and Transport Committee repeated the government’s purported unprecedented achievements in the road sector, claiming the government had constructed more roads than any government in the history of Ghana.
“When we took over power in 2017, the percentage of roads that were paved in this country was just 23 percent of the 78,402. It means about 77,000 of the networks were unpaved. Per the new records that we have, our road network size has increased” the Akim Swedra lawmaker reiterated.
However, the Ranking Member on the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament, and MP for Adaklu Constituency in the Volta region, Mr. Kwame Governs Agbodza, dismissed Mr. Nyarko’s claims.
Mr. Agbodza was of the view that the Nana Addo-Bawumia led government deliberately fabricated figures on constructed roads to create the impression that it is improving the road network in Ghana.
“It is a deliberate thing. It was not a mistake,” the Adaklu legislator insisted.
Meanwhile, Members of the Minority Caucus in Parliament have challenged the government through the Roads Ministry to provide more details on the new roads it claims to have constructed.
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