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“By the end of this year, all former toll booth workers who were laid off after the government abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges will be re-assigned as YEA district disability officers,” Kofi Agyapong stated today.
Kofi Agyepong, the chief executive officer of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), announced that YEA district disability officers would be assigned to replace the toll booth workers who were let go after the government decided to eliminate all road tolls.
This was announced by Kofi Agyepong on Monday, December 11, 2023, during the Business and Employment Assistance Programme (BEAP) launch.
After the government ended the toll system in November 2022, at least 800 toll booth employees lost their jobs.
Recall that on November 18, 2021, Ghana’s toll collection ceased following the announcement by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta that tolls would be eliminated in the 2022 budget.
Following the announcement made by the Finance Minister, Kwaku Amoako Atta, the Minister of Roads and Highways, issued an order stopping toll collection nationwide as of November 18, 2021, at midnight.
Personnel stopped collecting tolls and the toll collection centers were deserted by the following morning. Drivers applauded the directive, but dealers voiced worries about how it would affect their means of subsistence.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, disagreed with this decision, calling it illegal and arguing that the toll collection ban was a budgetary policy that should not have been put into effect right away.
The former tollbooth employees, meanwhile, asserted that they have not received their promised alternative employment or payment for unpaid salaries.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
