The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George has said that the New Patriotic Party should have made sure to secure funding before naming 2020 as the ‘Year of Roads.’
Speaking on Citi FM’s Voter’s Diary he said that the government should have made sure funds were available before making the proclamation.
“The same Minister for Roads has stated on record that COVID is affecting the year of roads. Before you declared the year a ‘Year of Roads’ you should have secured the financing for it,” he said.
Mr. George added that if the President can go round cutting sods for new projects it means that the financial systems have not been affected by the pandemic and cashflows still exist.
He expressed shock that the president cuts sod for projects that do not begin anytime close to the date of the sod cutting.
“I do not understand how a president can cut sword for a project that will commence seven months later but well, everything is possible under president Akufo-Addo,” he said referring to a sod-cutting in the Bono Region.
Background
The Government in its quest to address the poor road networks in major parts of the country has declared 2020, as the “Year of Roads”.
Delivering the 2020 Budget in Parliament on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta said the government will largely focus and prioritize road projects to improve infrastructure in that sector and bring an end to the cries of Ghanaians for better roads.
Ken Ofori-Atta indicated that the governing party would revamp the road sector and pay contractors what is owed them as ridicule to the NDC’s claim of massive road infrastructure in its Green Book.
The MP also expressed that his constituency still had bad roads despite the Roads minister’s word to get contractors to finish road projects.
“Just as recently as the 29th of May I summoned him into parliament to answer a question. He assured me that the contractor had been mobilized to go back to the site. Today is the 11th of September, there is no evidence of a contractor on-site,” he said.
