Veep Defends 1000% Increment In Road Tolls

The Vice President, John Dramani Mahama has defended the recent increment in road tolls which is about a thousand percent. The road tolls which was increased earlier this week triggered wild protests among many Commercial drivers across the country. Some drivers threatened to hit the streets and demonstrate against the increment. Some set bonfires on major roads causing severe traffic on those roads. Others parked their cars while some arbitrarily inflated their fares to make up for the difference. The tolls as explained by the Minister of road and transport, goes into the Road Fund which is used in rehabilitating the roads, constructing new ones and also for providing street lights. The Vice President, John Mahama, however said that the toll increment would help Government construct more roads and maintain the bad ones. Mr Mahama put up the defense when he inaugurated a 30-million dollar programme to rehabilitate all major roads in Tema and Ashaiman. He however directed the roads and transport Minister, Joe Gidisu to ensure the Road Fund is monitored closely to prevent abuse. Mr Gidisu said that the Vice President�s concerns are part of the NDC Government�s pledge to be open with expenditure. �I think it is part of the transparency agenda of government and for that matter we are assuring Ghanaians of their value for money�which would not be done under the cloak of suspicion�. He added that �the direction for the vice president is just in place, I even intend that by next week we should be able to relay to Ghanaians how much we have been able to accrue from the tolls�so the vice president�s intimation is in the right direction�