It was ‘free ride’ for motorists using the country’s highways that have toll booth following the directive by the Roads and Highways Minister for the cessation of toll collections.
The story was not different when Mynewsafric.com visited the Amasaman toll booth on the Accra-Kumasi highway in the early hours of Thursday November 18, 2021 following the directive.
At about 6:30 am, workers had abandoned all the toll booths and engaged in heated discussions among themselves on where their next livelihoods will come from since government had asked them to leave post.
The situation kept many drivers who got to the toll booth, wondering what was happening as they kept blowing their horns but there was no response as the toll booth attendants were busy discussing their own economy and budgets, a day after the national budget was read.
The bewildered motorists had no other choice than to drive off as nobody seemed to mind them.
The Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta during the presentation of the 2022 budget statement to Parliament on Wednesday November 17 said, the government has abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges.
He said this takes effect immediately the Budget is approved adding that the toll collection personnel will be reassigned.
But before the 2022 budget will see its first consideration by the members of the legislature, Road and Highways Minister Kwesi Amoako-Atta directed for immediate cessation of toll collections across the country.
Workers at the Amasaman toll booth who spoke to Mynewsafric.com’s reporter Edward A. Ken-Zorre, questioned why the minister had to direct them to leave post when the budget had not been approved by Parliament.
“The money we collect here is for the state and if the Finance Minister said we should stop work when the budget is passed why will the roads Ministry also issue a statement the same day and ask us to leave the booth, is that not financial loose to the state because all the money we would have collected during this period is gone” a toll staff called Edward questioned.
He added that, “without any letter we only heard through the media that we shouldn’t come to work again. Yesterday night that our leaders put on our WhatsApp page that all the night duty people should vacate the place at 12 midnight so we are here this morning thinking someone will come to say something to us”.
Another worker, who gave her name as Mariam Karim revealed that, “even as we speak, they still owe us two months of our salary and if they wanted to reassign us just like the Minister mentioned, then they should have just asked us to report to our new places of work so that we will know maybe the money they owe us will still be paid”.
She lamented that, “almost everyone here is a caretaker, if we should tell you the number of people, we take care of at home and we all know that going to stay home means we are not going to be reassigned because if they had a place to reassign us, they would have just done that and not ask us to go home”.
The workers are therefore calling on government to immediately pay their arrears and also fast-track the promise to reassign them as they don’t have anything to depend on now.
Meanwhile, some drivers who also spoke with our reporter said the “free ride” already has reduced traffic congestion on that section of the road and will also reduce the travel time to their various destinations.
They however expected government to reduce the prices of petroleum products, which they believe will have greater impacts on all sectors of the economy.
“The toll is just GHC 2, but the fuel price is no joke so I personally expected something on that because if they reduce fuel prices today, we drivers will also reduce fees and the market people will also reduce their prices but this is what the government have decided”.
Story by: Edward A. Ken-Zorre
