After Killer E-Levy, Roads Minister Confirms Road Tolls To Be Reintroduced

Roads and Transport Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, has reinforced a hint by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta that the road tolls which were abolished in November last year are set to resurface.

According to the road minister, the re-imposition will be determined by circumstances and will be informed by a desire to shore up government finances.

“Road toll may come,” Ofori-Atta said justifying the about-turn by the government with some major roads in the country are expanded into six lanes and dual carriage roads.

Not denying that the tolls may resurface, the Transport Minister simply said “When we get to the bridge we will cross it.”

Kwasi Amoako-Atta’s words give a nuanced backing to the expectations of the Finance Minister, who had said at a town hall meeting on the e-levy in Koforidua on Thursday that the government is probably considering reintroducing road tolls.

The Finance Ministry is currently suffering a massive push-back from the Ghanaians citizenry as the government attempts to shore up its revenue by introducing a killer 1.75% tax on all electronic transactions in the country.

The direct tax which the government claims are the panacea to Ghana’s economic woes has been rejected by both the public and half of the Ghanaians legislature.

The government expects to reap some GHC 7 billion from the e-levy, but critics think the tax was an unnecessarily lazy approach to overburden the already tax-weary Ghanaians with more hardships.

Others want the government to plug the holes that cause Ghana to lose some GHC 20 billion annually to corruption. That amount is three times what the government would have made without burdening Ghanaians further.

Meanwhile, the government had abolished the road toll collection with the 2022 Budget presented to Parliament in November last year, in anticipation of the e-levy and may resort to its old revenue stream if the e-levy fails.

The government had said the amount of money generated from road tolls is too small.

However, just a few months down the line, the government is contemplating changing its mind, something that many will criticize as inconsistency.