Brouhaha over new road tolls

Both government and private workers living in and around Kasoa in the Central Region, and other parts of the country, went through hell on Monday, before joining buses and cars to their various work places.

The frustration was caused by the threat of some commercial vehicle drivers, not to work in protest against the new road tolls introduced by the government recently.

The drivers claim the new tolls would take away the chunk of their daily sales, and must immediately be reduced.

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr. Joe Gidisu, and officials of his Ministry, have also argued on various platforms that the road tolls, which is an avenue for raising revenue to maintain our roads, have not been increased for over a decade now, thus hampering the development of the sector.

Mr. Joe Gidisu, in particular, gave assurance in a television interview he granted on Monday in the midst of the brouhaha, that money derived from the new tolls would be used for the purpose it is meant for, and that road users would henceforth get value for the money they pay.

All over the world and in the developed countries in particular, road tolls form a vital means of raising money to solve problems in the sector.

The Chronicle, therefore, does not see anything wrong if the government decides to streamline the sector, and raise the needed funds to rehabilitate and maintain roads which are in a deplorable state.

The concerns of Ghanaians and the drivers in particular, is whether the government would channel the funds to solve problems in the road sector.

As we noted in this very column sometime ago, the Accra-Tema Motorway has been tolled for several years, but when parts of the road deteriorates, it takes a long time before it is repaired. With the introduction of the increased road tolls, Ghanaians would not forgive this government if the revenue is not properly utilised.

The Chronicle would, however, like to appeal to the public, to give politicians the last chance to repent from giving failed promises, by listening to the plea from the sector Minister that the money would properly be accounted for, because that is the only way the country would also develop.

If the Minister and the government fail to honour their words, the 'power of the thumb' must be used against them in 2012. All over the world, it is taxes that are used for development, but the people will start grumbling if they do not see anything good coming from what they are being forced to pay.