There was a huge uproar from the majority side of Parliament when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Bole/Bamboi in the Northern Region, Yusif Sulemana stood on the floor of the parliament on Friday to ask the Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways what his ministry is doing about bad roads in his constituency.
The minority NDC members were not comfortable when the Bole/Bamboi MP, Yusif Sulemana asked the deputy Minister of Roads and Highway when the Bole township roads will be completed along with other uncompleted roads projects in the constituency.
As soon as the MP was called on the floor to ask his question, members of the majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) started heckling him and shouting “shame, shame, shame” obviously in reference to John Mahama, immediate past president.
Bole is the hometown of the John Mahama who was also the Member of Parliament for the constituency from 1996 to 2008 on the ticket of the NDC and the majority members were shouting “shame, shame” to spite former president for not doing anything about those roads when he was the MP for 12 years and president for six years.
The minority members also shouted back wondering why the majority members were so concerned about roads in a specific constituency which are not in their constituencies.
After the answer was given by the deputy minister, Kwabena Owusu-Aduomi, the Bole/Bamboi MP decided not to ask any other supplementary questions even though he had the option to ask two further supplementary questions.
The majority chief whip and NPP MP for Sunyani East, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh had wanted to know why most of the road projects in that particular constituency were awarded between May and September, 2016 and whether the deputy Minister knew that there was enough money to execute those projects awarded at a stretch in 2016.
The deputy minister in responding to the majority chief whip’s answer said he would not be able to tell whether indeed at the time of the award of the contract there was enough money to execute those road projects in the Bole/Bamboi constituency.
The answer by the deputy minister drew a thunderous ‘hear, hear’ from the minority members with some saying that the deputy minister who is also the New Patriotic Party(NPP) Member of Parliament for Ejisu in the Ashanti Region will win his seat again.
The Bole/Bamboi MP wanted to know from the deputy minister when the Dakrupe-Kabilma road, Mandari-Charche road, Mankuma-Kenasibi road and Bole township roads would be completed.
In the deputy minister’s substantive answer to those questions by the Bole/Bamboi MP, he said the Dakrupe-Kabilma, Mandari-Charche and the Bole Town Roads are part of the feeder roads network in the Bole/Bamboi constituency.
He said the Dakrupe-Kabilma feeder road commenced on May 6, 2016 and is expected to be completed on May 5, 2017 but delay in payment for work done has affected the progress of work.
He said the Mandari-Charche road which was awarded on contract on September 14, 2016 and was expected to be completed on September 13, 2017, is also behind schedule.
He said the contractor working on that road but has abandoned work has been warned to resume work.
He said the Bole township roads which were awarded on contract on February 15, 2014 and were expected to be completed on February 19, 2015 have still not been completed. He said they were about 80% complete.
He said the upgrading of the Bole Township Roads and the rehabilitation of the Cocoa Research Institute road at Bole was also given on contract on June 30, 2016 and was expected to be completed on June 30, 2017, has not been completed because of scarcity of quarry products in the area.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr