The Ashanti Caucus of the Minority in Parliament has accused the government of selectively prioritising infrastructure funding, warning that planned changes to the Suame Interchange risk undermining Kumasi’s economic and transport role.
Addressing the media, former Minister for Works and Housing and Member of Parliament for Bantama, Francis Asenso-Boakye, criticised government proposals to scale down the Suame Interchange from its original four-tier design to a two-tier structure. He described the move as “technically indefensible, economically unwise and politically unjust”.
Asenso-Boakye said Kumasi, Ghana’s second-largest city, serves as a strategic national transit and transportation hub, linking major commercial routes across the country. With rapid population growth and rising vehicle ownership, he argued that reducing the scale of the project would worsen congestion and negatively affect trade and industrial activity.
“The Suame Interchange was conceived as a long-term solution, not a short-term compromise,” he said, adding that any attempt to cut back the design would short-change the Ashanti Region and weaken efforts to manage traffic flow in one of Ghana’s busiest urban centres.
The Ashanti Caucus is calling on government to restore the original four-tier design, re-prioritise funding to complete the project as planned, and engage transparently with Parliament and residents of Kumasi on the way forward.
“Kumasi deserves infrastructure that reflects its national importance, not half solutions justified by selective constraints,” Asenso-Boakye said.