The railways sector should have been captured under the Ministry of Transport rather than the creation of a whole new ministry for it by President Nana Akufo-Addo, former Deputy Minister of Transport in the Mahama administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Joyce Bawa-Mogtari has said.

Announcing a list of ministerial nominations pending parliamentary approval, the president named Joe Ghartey, Member of Parliament (MP) for Essikado-Ketan Constituency in the Western Region as the Minister of Railways Development.

Commenting on the appointments on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show on Thursday, 12 January, Mrs Bawa-Mogtari told host Jonas Ofori-Yeboah that she “hoped that we will keep all these things under the Ministry of Transport as an umbrella ministry” to oversee the sector.

She was of the view that one ministry is enough for roads, transport, railways.

She explained that currently there are only two companies that serve directly in the sector, namely the Railways Development Authority and the Railway Company Limited and so did not see the need for creating a whole ministry for it.

She pointed out that the main challenge that has bedeviled the industry was funding.

“The reason why we have not seen the sort of development we anticipated was not because there was no attention given to railways but actually because finding funding to invest in this expensive sector has been and continuous to be a challenge,” she stated, adding that: “I do hope that there is a good reason (for creating the new ministry) other than just creating jobs for appointees or jobs for people.”