Government has agreed to secure a US$250 million loan facility to reshape the Bole-Sawla-Wa road, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader in Parliament, has said.

He said US$150 million had been secured as the first part.

He said the Roads and Highways Minister, Mr Kwesi Amoako Atta, would perform the commissioning for work to start on the road, which had developed terrible potholes.

Mr Mensah-Bonsu said this at the thanksgiving mass for the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, at Sombo, his hometown, in the Nadowli-Kaleo District of the Upper West Region.

He said the deal was agreed through his collaboration with the Minority Leader, Mr Haruna Iddrisu.

Mr Mensah-Bonsu said about five years ago, Parliament recognised that Mr Bagbin was a rock in Parliament and, therefore, sent a delegation to the Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency to talk to the people to re-elect him, some of whom were against it.

“Today the people of Nadowli-Kaleo and indeed all of them are basking in the glory of his achievement,” he said, noting that, indeed, a prophet was not recognised in his own home.

The Majority Leader said Parliament was the guardian of democracy and not the Executive, and it was in that regard that the Speaker had to navigate a tight rope, hence need to constantly pray for him to succeed.

Mr Mensah-Bonsu disclosed that government in the next couple of months would expand school feeding to every single basic school in the country.
He highlighted the importance of education and said it was through education that Mr Bagbin had attained his current status.

“If you want your son to become like Bagbin, you have no excuse not to take him to school today that school is free coupled with free feeding,” he said.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader, touted the achievements of Mr Bagbin and described him as the most qualified and experienced person to take up the role as speaker.

“I have faith in Bagbin and I have faith that he will lead the reforms that this country need, particularly for Parliament, in order to make it more responsive, accountable and a transparent institution that contributes to improvement of the wellbeing and the quality of life for the Ghanaian”, he said.

Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), noted that there had been seven Speakers of Parliament in the Fourth Republic, but Mr Bagin’s was unique because he assumed that leadership role when his party was not in power.

“We have the most complicated Parliament in the history of our country and it required somebody with dexterity, experience and the necessary capacity to manage this difficult and complex Parliament,” he said.