The milestone for development, measured in quantifiable terms based on the progress of growth in infrastructure cannot be overemphasized.

Many nations grapple, especially in Africa, to come to terms with a thriving and robust infrastructure, as government confusingly either put off entirely or ground projects necessary to ensure ease of citizens.

While others defiantly use it as bait on a political manifesto hook to reel in citizens to vote for them, citizens on the other hand desperately clamor for the crumbs that fall off the feast table of government.

An essential piece of infrastructure barring healthcare and educational facilities is the bit about road infrastructure. More than just a conduit for commuting, roads are considered to be one of the critical infrastructures that the growth and development of any country hinges on.

As such, when citizens hear any news about roads and their construction, they become excited and relieved as good roads facilitate the smooth transportation of people and goods from one location to the other although same cannot be said of bad roads.

In November 1965, the Accra-Tema motorway opened to traffic to connect Tema and Accra. It was constructed under the leadership of Dr Kwame Nkrumah and was built in the style of the Autobahn, a German motorway.

The motorway was rehabilitated to its original condition in August 2009 at a cost GHC500,000, as part of the motorway was to be reconstructed using epoxy cement.

Now, tragedies have seemingly become the motivational tool for government to dip into supposed ’empty’ coffers to right an anomaly within state infrastructure. A highway, meant to ease traffic congestion and facilitate swift movement for all and sundry, has become a distressing scene of death and agony for commuters.

True to form, a recent accident on the Tema Motorway along the tollbooth which led to the death of one person has occasioned the seeming attention of government to respond to an age-old petition on the need to reengineer the stretch of the road which according to experts, has “outlived its lifespan”.

As it stands now, incessant calls from scores of Ghanaians, musicians, and state actors including a member of parliament’s roads and transport committee, Kwame Agbodza, on the government’s misplaced priority cracks open once again, government’s inefficiencies.

Also, it brings to bear the belated efforts by the state to react to crisis speedily after it has caused irreparable damage.

Stillbirth of government’s ‘Year Of Roads’

Unarguably, Ghana has some great promises and prospects as it was indeed refreshing to say the least when government declared the year 2020 as the “Year of Roads”.

All hopes and expectation were for the government to embark on an aggressive road development across the country. President Akufo-Addo once again committed to bridging the road infrastructure deficit in the country.

For three years straight, the President declared the ‘Year of roads’ as in the second year, he pledged to prioritize road construction to ensure that a significant number of kilometres across the country are tarred. But the question is what happened to the Tema Motorway which now resembles the game of hopscotch?

Describing the year 2022 as a “boom in road sector”, President Akufo-Addo disclosed that nine highways, seven bridges and five interchanges will be constructed.

However, not much has been said by our able President on the year of roads, as it’s in its fourth year – 2023. Like a countdown to a new year, President Akufo-Addo since his first declaration of ‘Year of Roads’, vowed to make inroads in Ghana’s road sector, equally pledging to develop a ten-lane road on the motorway.

With this, the Ministry of Roads and Highways disclosed its preparedness to construct phase two of the Tema motorway interchange in November 2021.

This followed the signing of an agreement between the Government of Japan and the Government of Ghana to finance phase two of the Tema motorway interchange project and rehabilitation of national trunk road N8 on Friday, 10^th September 2021.

Although work has begun on the interchange, government’s good intentions is being hounded by the long stretch of roads on the Tema motorway begging to be rehabilitated. This certainly does bring to mind putting ‘old wine into new wineskin’ biblical metaphor.

While failing to wholly address the crack on the motorway stretch, government is setting itself up for failure as the growing apprehension by commuters on the motorway is drowning the impact of the ongoing development.

Government seems to have money to fulfill its ‘selfish ambitions and desires’ except ones which will directly impact for the better, on its citizens’ lives. The ‘government knows best’ illusions has clouded government’s judgement and shut out voices contrary to its own.

To repeat the words of Kwame Agbodza, “Ghana is not broke”, as he does not believe “Ghana is broke beyond doing what we have to do to save ourselves”. He reckoned that if “government has decided to spend $250 million on building a new Bank of Ghana headquarters” it equally justifies its misplaced priorities.

Moreover, imagine if “we apply $250 million of that money to the motorway, we would have been 70 percent way down completing the motorway. So, it is about priorities”.

Hope is all Ghanaians have to cling on to, as they wait with bated breath to see their desires on the development of infrastructure come to life. Governments must not only be insightful and witty on paper but must be able to translate its lip service to actual work.

This is further validated by the finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who in the 2020 budget presentation stated that “Ghanaians want action on our roads, not words or plans or Green Book claims about what has been done“.

So, it is high time government “swings into action and let our work do the talking for us“, because mere declaration of intent has always been defeated by actual deeds, and the sooner government realizes that the better.