Asenso-Boakye challenges Agbodza over road construction data

Former Roads and Highways Minister, Francis Asenso-Boakye, has pushed back against what he describes as “deliberate misinformation” from the current Minister, Kwame Governs Agbodza, regarding the performance of the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration in the roads sector.

Addressing journalists in Parliament, the Bantama MP accused the Minister of twisting facts for political gain and downplaying the scale of road projects executed under President Akufo-Addo’s leadership.

“The NPP administration completed over 13,000 kilometres of road works — including new constructions, overlays, partial reconstructions, and rehabilitation — contrary to the 10,000km being claimed by Mr. Agbodza,” he stated.

Disputing official figures

Mr. Asenso-Boakye questioned the credibility of the 10,000km figure being circulated by the current Roads Minister, insisting it contradicts verified records.

He pointed out that the official data was compiled by the Ministry’s Monitoring and Evaluation Unit — a technical body comprised of engineers and experts, not political appointees.

“These statistics were gathered and authenticated by professionals,” he noted. “Any attempt to downplay that work is not only misleading but a direct insult to the expertise of our civil servants.”

The former minister urged Mr. Agbodza to direct any doubts or inquiries to the technical unit, rather than “feeding the public half-truths and political spin.”

Accusations of hypocrisy on procurement

Turning his attention to procurement issues, Mr. Asenso-Boakye called out the Minister for what he described as a clear case of inconsistency.

He recalled that while in opposition, Mr. Agbodza was a vocal critic of the NPP’s use of single-source procurement for road contracts. But now, in office, the Minister appears to defend the same practice.

“It is quite ironic. The same person who spoke against single sourcing now finds it justifiable,” he said, citing Agbodza’s recent remarks that “the procurement method doesn’t matter once engineers prepare the estimates.”

He added: “This is not just a contradiction — it is a credibility issue.”

Call for honest discourse

Mr. Asenso-Boakye concluded with a strong call for transparency and fairness in conversations about infrastructure delivery.

“At the very least, we must be truthful with the Ghanaian people,” he said. “Road development should not be weaponised for politics — it’s a matter of national interest.”

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His comments come in the midst of heightened debate over the real state of Ghana’s roads, with both the NDC-led administration and the former NPP government vying for credit ahead of the 2024 general elections.