The vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has come under fire from the Toll Workers Association of Ghana for his suggestion to reinstate road tolls in an attempt to win their support.

Government under the tutelage of President Nana Akufo Addo removed road tolls in 2022 in an effort to reduce traffic on its main thoroughfares. While on a visit to the Volta Region, the Vice President, who is also the leader of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), suggested expanding the tolling system’s reintroduction in order to raise the funds required for infrastructural development.

At a meeting with the clergy in the Volta Region at the beginning of his tour, Dr. Bawumia addressed civilian complaints about the status of the roads. He said that the government lacked funding for infrastructure development and suggested that creative solutions like road tolling may give a solution.

Dr. Bawumia also recommended that the government reevaluate its strategy for funding roads and that the private sector may augment road toll revenue to provide the necessary relief.

Edward Duncan, General Secretary of the Toll Workers Association of Ghana, however, stated in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News on Citi FM on Friday that “This thing that his excellency is telling us is just to get votes from us and our loved ones and sympathizers because we are about 800 workers, former toll booth workers.”

“We have families, we have friends. We have people that we can influence, we have people that depend on us.”