Minority Calls For Return Of Road Tolls To Increase Government Revenue

• The Minority in Parliament has visited a call for the government to return the collection of road tolls
• Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said shortly after the finance minister's presentation yesterday that the cancellation of the tolls was denying Ghana critical funds
• The Minority in Parliament also criticised the government for not consulting widely before scrapping the tolls

The Minority in Parliament has repeated a call for the hastily scrapped road toll collection to be reintroduced to improve the government’s revenue generation drive.

Addressing the press shortly after the finance minister presented the measures to mitigate the economic hardships, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said the decision to halt road tolls was terrible for the government’s revenue.

"We want [road tolls] re-instated. We demand that tollbooths are made functional, and the revenues accruing from it be made available to the Republic,” Mr Iddrisu told a packed press on the forecourt of Parliament.

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Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, in November last year, surprised the whole nation when he presented a bold proposal to abolish all road tolls.

Presenting the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy Statement to Parliament on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, Mr Ofori-Atta said the proposal was to enhance productivity and reduce environmental pollution.

The minister said that the cancellation was also meant to reduce the heavy traffic that toll booths are known to cause nationwide.

The decision was heavily criticised as unnecessary and rushed by a section of the Minority and a section of the public since the country needed the revenue from the tolls for development.

Returning to the matter yesterday, the Minority Leader said it was wrong that the finance minister didn’t include the reintroduction of the road tolls among his strategies to mitigate the economic hardships.

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Haruna Iddrisu noted that the government needed every drop of revenue, especially those from sources such as the tolls.

“It’s as if [because] they have the mandate to govern they can do as they please. Nowhere in the world will you travel and not see functional toll booths,” Mr Iddrisu chastised the government.

He added that Ghana has already lost significant funds due to the scrapping of the toll booths.

“We think that it is only proper that it is reintroduced and probably adjusted to rake in the needed revenue and use it as a vehicle to promote the public-private partnership to improve our road infrastructure,” he said.

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Source: YEN.com.gh