Government Should Address the Concerns of the Tollbooth Workers

Editorial Daily Searchlight of Tuesday, 7th July, 2022

Members of the Toll Workers Association of Ghana have petitioned Parliament after a protest to demand the reinstatement of the toll booths and the payment of their six-month salary arrears from the government.   

The group said about 800 toll workers, who were disengaged following a directive by the government to halt the collection of tolls on roads and bridges across the country, had become impoverished.  

Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the Deputy Majority Whip, together with Mr Ahmed Ibrahim, Deputy Minority Whip, received the petition on behalf of Speaker Alban Bagbin and the Leadership of the House.  

Madam Alhassan commended the group for following due process by bringing their petition to Parliament to be addressed.  

She assured the association of sending the request to the Speaker, saying their concerns were genuine and that the House would do whatever it takes to ensure they were addressed.  

The Daily Searchlight adds it voice to the concerns of the tollbooth workers. We believe that they have not been treated with due consideration and care, and government needs to reconsider their matter again.

We believe that the decision to do away with the toll booths in the first place was not taken with adequate consideration of all factors. 

We believe, even if the matter was duly considered, that this was not a poper decision on the merits.

Again, given the straightened financial conditions of the government, it should have ensured that whatever alternative revenue stream was envisaged, would come on board, before doing away with another revenue stream.

From the preceding, anybody who has become a victim as a consequence of the rash decision to shut down the toll booths, should be adequately compensated.

(This article was first published in the column EDITORIAL of the Daily Searchlight of Tuesday,, 7th July,, 2022. The Daily Searchlight appears on the newsstands of Ghana every working day and PDF versions are available for sale online twenty-four hours a day all day throughout the world on www.ghananewsstand.com).