Professor of Political Science at the the nation’s premier University, the University of Ghana has chided government for the knee-jerk action of canceling the collection of road tolls and reintroducing same.
Responding to the plan to reintroduce road tolls, he condemned government for the intransigence exhibited when there were calls on the government to rethink its decision to abolish tolls on the road that generated some resources for the nation, particularly in the wake of the nation’s economic misery.
Prof. Gyampo said, “Now we want to reintroduce the road tolls? Good idea. But what went into the decision to cancel it?
“Governance is too serious a business to be left in the hands of mere political point scorers. The ideals of the Philosopher King are to guide those ruling!”
He called on government to be responsive and listen to voices of dissent as he who is cutting a path would never know if his back is crooked.
Payment of toll on public roads ceased in November 2021 as part of policy measures announced by government under the 2022 Budget in anticipation of the introduction of the E-Levy.
But presenting the 2023 budget to Parliament in November last year, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced that government will reintroduce the road toll on selected roads in 2023 as one of the revenue measures.
“The fiscal policy measures to underpin the 2023 Budget for consideration and approval by Parliament include the reintroduction of tolls on selected public roads and highways with a renewed focus on leveraging technology in the collection to address the inefficiencies characterized by the previous toll collection regime,” paragraph 462 of the 2023 Budget statement reads.