The Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Narety George, says President Nana Akufo-Addo was misled into believing his government has constructed 10,875km of new roads since assuming power in 2017.
According to Mr George, this is not the first time the President has been provided with inaccurate data.
However, he believes President Akufo-Addo could have been more diligent before briefing the country during the 2022 State of the Nation Address on the infrastructural achievements chalked by his government.
“Let’s call a spade a spade. The President was misled. It won’t be the first time. We would have expected more diligence on the part of the President. At least, if he had spent more time reading the speech and questioning it than being happy to [tell us to open our eyes],” he said.
Speaking on Accra-based Citinews, the NDC MP did not reveal the other occasions the President had allegedly been misled.
However, he challenged the government to provide more details on the roads it claims to have constructed.
In Parliament on March 30, President Akufo-Addo said; “In the five years of my government, so far, more roads have been built, improved and upgraded than at any other equivalent period under any government in the history of Ghana.
“Some 10,875 kilometres of new roads have been constructed in these five years. Mr Speaker, it is in the road sector that we have registered the greatest infrastructure achievement.”
While touting government’s success, the President made a gesture suggesting that one must open his or her eyes to see the development.
Following the President’s comments, Ranking Member on the Transport Committee in Parliament, Governs Kwame Agbodza, said the figures were fabricated.
He said data from the Roads and Highways Ministry during a press briefing in 2021, captured that there had been 68.5km of new roads constructed and 1,463km of asphalt overlays.
Also, Civil Engineer, Abdulai Mahama, has disputed government’s claim.
Reacting to this claim on the Super Morning Show, on Thursday, March 31, 2022, the Engineer noted that the President’s assertion is contrary to data provided by the Roads and Highways Minister during a press briefing in 2021, which indicated that there had been 4,263.37km of roads constructed between 2017 and 2021.
He argued that considering the duration, methodology of how to construct a road, which involved “going through a virgin forest and clearing the trees, the stumps, the farm products, and everything and you build a new road from scratch, and other underlying factors such as challenges that may come up during the projects, it cannot be possible that government has done in excess of 6,000kms of road within 10 months.”
