Roads Ministry says collection of tolls was stopped to prevent chaos at toll booths

• The Ministry of Roads and Highways has explained the reason for their immediate suspension of payment of tolls
• According to the ministry, it was done to avoid chaos at the various toll booths across the country
• The roads ministry said motorists misunderstood the announcement of the government

The Ministry of Roads and Highways has finally opened up on the reason for their immediate suspension of payment of tolls on all public roads and bridges across the country.

According to a report filed by Starrfmonline, the ministry said the directive was given to avoid chaos at toll booths following the announcement made by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta while reading the 2022 budget.

Ofori Atta in his budget presentation proposed the cancellation of road tolls on all public roads in 2022 when the budget is approved.

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The road's ministry said the finance ministry's statement got misunderstood by motorists thinking it was being implemented immediately and refused to pay tolls.

“Unfortunately, the Minister of Finance’s statement either got misunderstood or misinterpreted by some motorists, as many of them deemed the statement as having immediate effect and therefore decided not to pay the road and bridge tolls. The insistence of the toll collected to have the tolls paid caused serious confusion and in some cases, resulted in fisticuffs and damage to lives and property,” the statement said.

“The Ministry wish to assure that the action taken was to suspend the operationalization of the collection of the tolls and not to suspend the law,” the statement clarified.

The statement comes after the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, ordered Kwasi Amoako-Atta to immediately withdraw a press release calling for the cessation of road tolls.

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Alban Bagbin directs Roads minister to reverse suspension of road toll payment

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that the Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin directed the minister of roads and highways, Kwasi Amoako Atta, to reverse the directive to stop the collection of tolls.

According to Bagbin, Amoako Atta acted wrongly by issuing that command to halt the tolls without proper approval.

His ruling comes after other members of parliament complained about the rush decision taken by the roads minister.

Source: YEN.com.gh