Roads Minister Amoako-Attah candidate for prosecution for causing financial loss – Fuseini

Inusah Fuseini, a former Minister of Roads and Highways has stated Kwasi Amoako-Attah must be charged and prosecuted for causing financial loss to the state after he ordered the immediate cessation of the collection of toll at the various toll booths across the country.

The Finance Minister disclosed during the 2022 budget presentation on the floor of Parliament that motorists who ply tolled roads across the country will no longer be required to pay tolls.

Ken Ofori-Atta said Government has abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges. This takes effect immediately after the budget is approved.

Bagbin directs reversal of Roads Minister's suspension of tolls

The Speaker of Parliament Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin directed Kwasi Amoako-Attah to reverse his decision to suspend the collection of road tolls because, in his view, the Minister acted wrongly by issuing that command.

He said the 2022 budget statement and the government's economic policy are policy proposals that the Finance Minister presented to the House and until they are approved nobody has the authority to start implementing something that doesn’t exist.

He, therefore, called on him to honourably withdraw that directive and warned that failure to do so will be a serious breach of the directive of the Speaker and that would amount to Contempt of Parliament since the House is yet to debate the Government's decision to scrap the tolls throughout the country which are a good source of revenue into the state kitty.

I think that it is proper for us to direct the Minister, a Member of this House, in fact, a Senior Member of this House, I think that he might have acted wrongly and therefore I call on him to reverse this decision, Bagbin said.

Amoako-Attah candidate for prosecution

But Inusah Fuseini said Amoako-Attah can be charged for causing financial loss to the state over his unilateral decision to collapse toll booths.

He stated that Amoako-Attah cannot extricate himself from the charge.

I'll be surprised if the revenue loss at the tollbooth is not raised in the Auditor-General's report for 2021...This must definitely be raised in the report of the Auditor-General, he stated.

Speaking on Accra FM, Fuseini noted that the Minister's decision was illegal.

This is so because the Road Fund Act for the promulgation of charges of tolls was passed by Parliament...It is the reason the finance minister, during the 2022 budget statement to Parliament, said tollbooths will be removed if the budget is passed.

The Finance Minister did not say it will be removed immediately, he stressed.

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