A heated exchange unfolded in Parliament on Wednesday as Roads and Highways Minister, Kwame Governs Agbodza, clashed with his predecessor, Francis Asenso-Boakye, over the government's ambitious Big Push road infrastructure programme.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament, former Minister Asenso-Boakye criticised the initiative as politically driven rather than economically strategic. "The greatest of respect, this so much talked about push is neither balanced nor big, nor strategic," Asenso-Boakye declared. "I say this because I believe strongly that it's just a political programme rather than an economically efficient programme.
One, Mr Speaker, the list of programmes, of roads is heavily skewed towards certain regions in the country, completely neglecting Greater Accra and the Ashanti Region." He elaborated, saying: "For me, that is not fair to the country, that is not strategic because you build roads where there are human beings, a lot of human, densely populated people, communities.
You build roads which will connect economic centres that will drive economic development and economic growth.
