Commercial drivers are demanding the immediate disengagement of the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta over his statement of converting the abandoned toll booths in the middle of the roads across the country into places of convenience.
According to the commercial drivers, the statement attributed to the Minister is distasteful and smacks of his long-held disrespect for drivers and in particular commercial drivers in the country.
Mr. William Osei, president of Concerned Drivers Union made this demand in an interview with Nana Ama Agyarko on Accra 100.5 FM’s evening news on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.
He was of the view that the Minister does not deserve to be in office after making these kinds of statements “This, minister, should have been dismissed by now,” he said adding that “his unpleasant comment on the use of the abandoned toll booths in the middle of the road for toilets is bad.”
“Is it the way rest stops are constructed across the world”? he queried.
Meanwhile, the Head of Regulations and Inspections at the National Roads Safety Authority (NRSA), Kwame Atuahene has indicated that his office will be seeking clarification from the office of the Minister of Roads and Highways on plans to convert the toll booths into toilet facilities.
“Vehicles travel between 80 to 100 kilometres per hour on the highways. And this will pose safety concerns if motorists have to park and cross the road to use these tollbooths-turned washrooms,” he said.
However, in an attempt to clarify his statement, Mr. Amoako-Attah said the use of abandoned toll booths across the country as places of convenience is only one of the plans on the list of things that the government is considering using them for.
According to the Minister, the comments he made as part of an interview he granted in response to the future of the toll booths.
He indicated that turning the abandoned toll booths into urinals was only a suggestion and not a statement he made anywhere.
