The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has bluntly told the Roads Minister Kwame Agbodza to leave parliament and focus on his actual work.
According to Afenyo Markin, Kwame Agbodza needs to be at the ministry to pay contractors and construct roads.
He further asserted that the minister’s presence in parliament is not necessary and that he has more pressing tasks to attend to.
Speaking on the floor of parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin stated, “He is supposed to stay, at the ministry and pay contractors, this is not where you are supposed to be, go to the ministry and work, if you want to be in leadership then resign he comes here to raise the temperature and when he comes he wants to change the temperature in this chamber.
The contractors need to be paid, and the roads must be constructed leave the chamber and go and work, he should leave here and go and work”, he ordered.
Reacting to Afenyo Markin’s comments, Kwame Agbodza stated, “I go in the morning and work till 1 o clock and come and perform my duty as a member of parliament, so, I agree with him.
We owe contractors we shall work hard to pay the contractors but he should also know that I am still a member of parliament and I enjoy this as well so I will be here for the rest of the day”, the Road Minister stated.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has warned contractors without commencement certificates will not be paid.
According to Ato Forson, contractors must make sure they have a commencement certificate because without that it is an unauthorised commitment.
Speaking on Channel One TV, Ato Forson stated, “194 contractors are those who have to work, some of them have not been done yet, and so we will have to validate for us to be able to know, those who have done those work, and those who have not done work at all.
I want to use this medium to guide them, make sure you have a commencement certificate because if you don’t have a commencement certificate and you do the work, and you expect us to pay, don’t think at all for payment. It is an unauthorised commitment”, he stated.
Ato Forson noted that if contractors do not go through the right process they will not be paid.
He added that if the contractors are close to finishing their work they should, but if they are yet to start they should not even start.
Ato Forson during the 2025 budget reading revealed that the government owes a staggering GHS67.5 billion to contractors and suppliers.
He stated, “At the end of December 2024, total central government arrears amounted to GHS67.5 billion, representing 5.2% of GDP. Mr Speaker, with the road sector recording arrears of GHS21 billion”.
“Subsequently, Mr Speaker, the MoF held a special hearing with the MDAs to validate the arrears submitted for payment. The response from the MDAs revealed that a staggering amount of GHS67.5 billion is owed to government contractors and suppliers,” Dr Forson explained.
Governs Kwame Agbodza, the Roads and Highways Minister has on the record stated the former Akufo-Addo government owed some road contractors as little as ¢5000.
“They claimed road toll was accruing just ¢80 million, but today road contractors are working in Ghana who are owed GH¢5,000”, he stated.
Watch the video below:
The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has bluntly told the Roads Minister to leave the parliament and focus on their actual work, implying that the minister’s presence in parliament is not necessary and that he has more pressing tasks to attend to. pic.twitter.com/5Z3ocz0ERn
— SIKAOFFICIAL🦍 (@SIKAOFFICIAL1) March 19, 2025
