Former Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport has revealed that the processes of implementing the towing levy were started during the Kufuor-led administration under the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Theophilus Tetteh Chaie recalled, “I have been a member of the Road and Transport Committee in Parliament, in fact, the Chairman of the Committee and I can tell you that this thing [processes of towing levy] started when President Kufuor was in office”.

The former Member of Parliament for Ablekuma Central Constituency in the greater Accra Region was contributing to discussions on the controversial tow levy, which is being considered by stakeholders.

A group called itself, Coalition against Mandatory Road Towing Levy has started gathering signatures to petition the President to halt the implementation of the towing levy.

The coalition, which is made up of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Committed Drivers Association, Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, Tanker Drivers Union and many others said it is targeting at least 10,000 signatures. “This company [Jospong] started the programme with the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and we [NDC government] came to meet.

I have been with the NRSC since 2009 and the programme has been there. We came to meet it”, Mr. Tetteh Chaie told TV3’s new Day hosted by bright Nana Amfoh on Tuesday.

He revealed that “they [Jospong] were even threatening to sue the Road Safety Commission because they had signed the agreement”. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) member said what they are against is the fact that the tow levy is made mandatory.

Mr. Tetteh Chaie said “people are not given the free hands to decide which company they want to operate with but one company has the monopoly and this is what they [stakeholders] are calling for a review and it is very important but the mandatory aspect is what is the problem. They should sit down again, do broad consultations with the stakeholders”.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Nasara Coordinator, Kamal-Deen Abdulai, said: “it is the duty of every government to ensure that the people they superintend over are not unduly taxed”.

“It will inure to the benefit of this country to have some levy in the name of development but nevertheless, such levies should not bring hardship on the people so our position is simple, it is not in our interest to burden our people”.

He said “nevertheless, it is not also our interest to increase the carnage on the road so it is not as if the policy is not a good one but there is a problem of implementation”.