Politics of Tuesday, 9 June 2020

Source: peacefmonline.com

It’s painful Akufo-Addo is not recognising Mahama’s contribution to road infrastructure - Inusah Fuseini

Inusah Fuseini, MP, Tamale Central Inusah Fuseini, MP, Tamale Central

Former Minister for Roads and Highways, Hon. Inusah Fuseini has described as hurtful the refusal of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to acknowledge the contribution of former President Mahama in road infrastructure.

According to him, President Akufo-Addo is deliberately refusing to give credit to former President John Dramani Mahama on the various infrastructure the latter started but completed under the Akufo-Addo led government.

Speaking on Okay FM’s ‘Ade Akye Abia’ Morning Show, the Tamale Central lawmaker says he is convinced that President Nana Akufo-Addo will never for once praise former President John Mahama till he leaves office.

“They claim we did not put any money down for the Tema interchange but with the Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange, I went for Parliamentary approval for the loan from SG-SSB and when he cut sod for the commencement of the project, he did not acknowledge that it was in the era of the NDC that the money for the project was approved,” he lamented.

“I answered all the questions on the floor of Parliament and defended the project till its Parliamentary approval; all the work we did to get the approval from Parliament is wasted because we did not get recognition from the effort we put up to get approval. You prepare food and when someone comes to eat it, he does not acknowledge the person who started the preparation of the food, and after eating the food too, he says the food does not taste good...ooh, it is painful; it hurts a lot,” he bemoaned.

He explained that apart from the syno-hydro deal, every project loan the NPP government has gone for since they came into power has not started and every project apart from the syno-hydro deal started from the previous Mahama administration.

Tema Interchange Commissioning

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Friday, 5th June 2020, at a brief ceremony in Tema, commissioned Phase One of the Tema Interchange Project.

Describing the commissioning of the project as "an excellent day in the life of Tema", the President noted that for many, many years, residents living in and around the Tema Metropolis, and motorists, have had to endure the inconvenience of unbearable traffic and a poor road network when traversing the then rotary intersection.

The completion of the project, according to President Akufo-Addo is a welcome development, especially as the upsurge of vehicular traffic, coupled with rapidly increasing urban population, is putting a lot of pressure on facilities in the cities, especially on road infrastructure, and sapping productivity.

"We made a pledge to the Ghanaian people to expand and improve the road network, while closing the missing links in the network. We had to make this pledge because we knew that the so-called 'unprecedented infrastructure development' of the Mahama administration was fantasy, existing in the 'Green Book', and not on the ground," he said.

"The economic benefits of these and many other trunk roads being undertaken by the Ghana Highways Authority, the Department of Urban Roads and the Department of Feeder Roads will be immense. Government is committed to the successful completion of all the projects, and I urge the Ministry of Roads and Highways to see to their expeditious completion," President Akufo-Addo said.