Reintroduction of road toll: Gov’t is too serious a business to be left in the hands of political point scorers – Prof. Gyampo

Prof. Ransford Gyampo

Senior Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Ransford Gyampo has questioned the motive behind government’s earlier decision to scrap the collection of the road toll.

In a post reacting to plans by the government to reintroduce the road toll, Prof. Gyampo hit out at leaders in government, indicating that they must be made aware that governance is too serious a business to be left in the hands of mere political point scorers.

“Now we want to reintroduce the road tolls? Good idea. But what went into the decision to cancel it? Governance is too serious a business to be left in the hands of mere political point scorers. The ideals of the Philosopher King are to guide those ruling,” Prof. Ransford Gyampo shared in a Facebook post.

The road toll system was abolished in 2022 to pave way for the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).

“Over the years, the tolling points have become unhealthy market centers, led to heavy traffic on our roads. Lengthened travel time from one place to the other and impacted negatively on productivity.

“The congestion generated at the tolling points also leads to pollution, in and around the vicinity. To address these challenges, government has abolished the collection of road toll on all public roads,” Finance Minister Ofori-Atta announced in 2021.

With the E-Levy failing to rake in the expected revenue, government has now decided to reintroduce road tolls.