Mahama built more roads in first term than Akufo-Addo – Fmr Minister

The Member of Parliament for Wassa East, Mr. Isaac Agyei Mensah, has dared the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to furnish Ghanaians with data that indicate that the Akufo-Addo administration has constructed more roads than the erstwhile Mahama government.

In a debate on roads on Dwaboase on TV XYZ Friday morning, the former Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways stated that the Mahama administration from 2013 to January 2017 extended the road network in the country from over 68,000 kilometres to78,402 kilometres before leaving office.

In essence, Agyei Mensah’s comment means the Mahama administration added over 10,000 kilometres of road to the country’s road network.

“The records from the Roads and Highways Ministry and from various budget statements under the Akufo-Addo administration corroborate my assertion,” he said in Akan.

To him, the Akufo-Addo administration did not do much in its first term because its appointees were in a honeymoon mode in their first term.

“The Akufo-Addo government has never added a single kilometre to the country’s road network,” he stated. “This government has only engaged in periodic maintenance of old roads .”

The Deputy Ranking Member on the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament said the roads that the NPP government is touting are stretches that had “already been engineered” adding “these facts are in the various budget statements and the truth is that Nana Addo has not expanded the road network in the country.”

His comment comes at a time the government has announced the construction of more roads in its flagship programme ‘Year of Roads’.

NPP’s Case

Former MP for Ayensuano and the immediate past Chairperson for Parliament’s Select Committee Roads and Transport, Mr Samuel Ayeh-Paye sharply disagreed with his former colleague on the achievements of the Akufo-Addo government in the roads sector.

He stated that it was never true that their governing NPP had not done much in the sector, saying the government has built more roads in its first term than Mahama did.

He explained that their data from the sector minister indicate that the government added 4,263.37 kilometres to the country’s road network.

“If Agyei Mensah says Akufo-Addo hasn’t added a kilometre of road to the country’s roads network, then he doesn’t know what he is talking about,” he argued and mentioned the ongoing asphalt overlay in Accra, Kumasi, Cape Coast and other areas.

He also mentioned the Akropong-Amamprobi road as well as the rehabilitation of roads in Tarkwa and its environs among others.