Francis Asenso-Boakye
The Minority in Parliament has rebutted claims by the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, accusing him of deliberately distorting official data and exhibiting double standards in his management of the sector.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament yesterday, former Roads and Highways Minister and Member of Parliament for Bantama, Francis Asenso-Boakye, described as “misleading” the minister’s recent assertions that the previous Akufo-Addo administration’s reported achievements in the roads sector were exaggerated.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye defended the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government’s record, insisting that between 2017 and the end of 2024, the Akufo-Addo administration undertook a total of 13,624 kilometres of road projects across the country.
He said this figure stood in stark contrast to the 4,636 kilometres reportedly executed during the eight years of the Mills-Mahama administration.
“The 13,624 kilometres include new constructions, asphalting, gravelling, reconstruction, partial reconstruction, upgrading and rehabilitation works,” Mr. Asenso-Boakye explained and added, “To discredit this simply because one cannot physically verify every kilometre is not only disingenuous, but a gross attempt to politicise hard facts.”
He took particular issue with Mr. Agbodza’s apparent dismissal of roads such as the Accra-Tema Motorway, which had undergone major reconstruction under the previous administration.
“That may not count as a new road, but it is a significant intervention that changes the transport architecture. You cannot pretend it didn’t happen,” he said.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye maintained that the data underpinning the achievements of the Akufo-Addo administration were not generated by politicians, but by technical experts within the Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate of the Roads Ministry, a body he said remains intact even after the recent reshuffle by the current minister.
“If the minister has doubts about the data, he should have the courage and sincerity to confront the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, who he himself retained after reassigning others. Resorting to propaganda only harms the credibility of the ministry,” he asserted.
The Minority also challenged the Minister over what they called a “blatant U-turn” on the issue of single-source procurement. Mr. Asenso-Boakye accused Mr. Agbodza of hypocrisy, saying that the same minister who had harshly criticised the Akufo-Addo administration for employing single-source procurement is now justifying its use.
“Today, the minister says once there is an engineer’s estimate, the procurement method doesn’t matter. How can he now defend what he once demonised? This is a textbook case of double standards,” the Bantama MP said, calling on Mr. Agbodza to render an “unqualified apology” to the previous administration for what he termed misleading accusations.
He called for a more professional and less politicised approach to managing the ministry, urging the current administration to rely on facts and technical assessments rather than partisan rhetoric.
“The Ministry of Roads and Highways is a technical institution, not a propaganda arm. Ghana deserves earnest, data-driven leadership; not selective memory and empty soundbites,” he added.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House