Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has questioned why the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, John Boadu, has not been “hauled” to parliament for making derogatory statement about the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on the cessation of road toll collection by the roads minister.
According to him, the roads minister disrespected parliament, particularly the Speaker, when he gave the directive for the collection of tolls to stop. Mr Agbodza explained that Mr Boadu’s reaction to the Speaker’s order for a reversal is equally indefensible.
“Mr Speaker, not too long-ago black Rasta said something about this House and was hauled before the House. So, what is the difference between what Black Rasta did and what John Boadu did in Central Region by telling you, Mr. Speaker, that if you want to collect the toll then you should go and collect tolls yourself? Why is John Boadu not being hauled before parliament? …the roads minster is a senior member of this house; I take strong exceptions to the fact he breached a law in this country by arrogating to himself the right to determine whether we collect taxes or not. And when Mr. Speaker gave a directive that the road minister, who is also a lawyer, should backtrack and do the right thing, the road minister refused. Rather, a senior member of the NPP has sought to denigrate the house.”
Mr Governs Kwame Agbodza
Commenting on the phenomenon, on the floor of Parliament, Kwame Governs Agbodza described John Boadu’s comments as contemptuous. He later demanded an apology from Mr Boadu to the House and requested that he be called before Parliament for disrespecting the Speaker.
Mr Agbodza insisted that failure to take action against him will serve as a bad precedent and will encourage others to do the same.
John Boadu questions Speaker on road toll collection
John Boadu, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), addressing a gathering at Mankessim in the Central Region asked why the Speaker of Parliament did not resort to road toll collection himself, following the directive sent out to the Roads and Highways Minister to withdraw the statement announcing the termination of collection of road tolls.
According to him, the decision taken by the roads minister was a timely intervention to prevent possible chaotic situations at toll collection points in the country. Speaking in the Central Region, Mr Boadu explained that although Mr Bagbin had a point in requesting the minister to reverse his directive, Mr Amoako- Attah did nothing wrong in taking the decision he did as the roads minister.
“Technically, the Speaker was right. If Parliament enacts a law, then only Parliament has the authority to repeal that law, but what the Road Minister did was also right. Because the announcement of the scrapping of the payment of road tolls would have caused confusion at the toll collection centres. He only suspended the operationalisation of toll collection, not the law. If he had not done that, there would have been chaos at the toll booth. With all due respect, why did the Speaker himself not go to the various toll collection points to take tolls after issuing the directive to the Minister?”
Mr John Boadu
Mr. Amoako-Attah directed the cessation of the collection of road and bridge tolls nationwide, effective Thursday, November 18, 2021.
However, Deputy Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Isaac Adongo, has revealed that the directive from the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako-Atta, for the immediate cessation of the collection of tolls on public roads has financial loss implications.
The Bolgatanga Central MP intimated that the funds expected to be collected from the tolls have been already appropriated till the end of the year.
“Commitments have been made in respect of the monies made from road tolls, contractors are also on site working in account of those monies, certificates are lying at the Ministry under the road fund as a result of these monies. Now that collection of tolls has been terminated, who is going to pay?”
Mr Adongo noted that this will cause a “serious financial loss” to the state because the appropriation hasn’t expired. He disclosed that funds that were appropriated for the 2021 Appropriation Act will be available to fund 2021.
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