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Mr. Kwasi Amoako-Attah, the Minister of Roads and Highways, has claimed that his department is full of “thieves” and “corrupt” individuals who help and abet haulage truck drivers who cross Ghana’s borders with loads that weigh far more than the required amount.
“There are a lot of corrupt people, there are a lot of thieves in my own ministry. You sack them, employ new one and when they come the new ones are even worse than those that you sacked”, the minister said.
He bemoaned the fact that these truckers from the neighboring nations damage Ghana’s road infrastructure by bribing their way through with their abnormally large loads and parking along the edges of the roadways.
Amoako-Attah, who was visibly furious, told journalists that while truckers are frightened to overload their cars while entering their home nations, they easily break Ghana’s regulations with impunity thanks to the complicity of port, customs, and police employees.
“Who is apprehending them?” he asked.
“And, if they are driving, whether in the day or in the night, you and I will not be there. You’ll be working. I’ll be working. Those whose duty it is to check them and apprehend them are disappointing this nation”, Amoako-Attah stated.
Mr. Amoako-Attah questioned how truckers enter the nation with excess cargo since there are axle-load centers sprinkled along the highway and at the Tema Port.
“There are people in my own ministry who are involved in this kind of thing”, Amoako-Attah fumes.
“We have a number of axle load centres from here to Paga but they pass through”, Mr Amoako-Attah bemoaned.
He claimed that individuals who collude with the trucks do so in exchange for bribes, but he also argued that regardless of how much money they get from such unethical behavior, they would all eventually pass away and leave everything behind, just like all other humans.
Mr Amoako-Attah also expressed disappointment in the police for looking on while the long haul truckers flout Ghana’s traffic laws with impunity.
He said whether the truckers have to pay or not for the excess load, “somebody should be apprehending them first”.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
