Former Minister for Roads and Highways, Francis Asenso-Boakye, has issued a firm rebuttal to recent claims suggesting that the reintroduction of digital road tolls is a novel initiative of the Mahama-led administration.

In a detailed statement issued on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, the former minister clarified that the groundwork for a digitised toll collection system was laid by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government well before President John Mahama assumed office in January 2025.

This response comes in the wake of President Mahama’s remarks at the 2025 Ghana CEOs’ Summit, where he announced plans to reintroduce road tolls using a digital framework linked to the Ghana Card and mobile money or bank accounts of vehicle owners.

The president positioned the move as part of Ghana’s broader digital transformation agenda.

While Mr. Asenso-Boakye welcomed the emphasis on digitisation, he emphasised that the current administration is merely continuing a process already advanced under the NPP government.

“In 2021, the NPP government made a bold decision to suspend manual toll collection based on four critical factors: low revenue yield, traffic congestion, high vehicle operating costs, and systemic revenue leakages,” he stated.

According to him, the NPP administration capitalised on the country’s robust digital infrastructure—including the Ghana Card and Digital Address System—to develop a modern tolling solution.

Cabinet approval was granted in 2024 for the reintroduction of tolls through a digital system, a move publicly confirmed in the 2024 Mid-Year Budget Review.

The statement further outlined a comprehensive Public-Private Partnership (PPP) process, backed by the Public-Private Partnership Act, 2020 (Act 1039), which led to the selection of an indigenous Ghanaian firm as the project concessionaire. However, the final concession agreement, which was submitted to the 7th Parliament, could not be ratified before the end of that parliamentary session.

Mr. Asenso-Boakye expressed disappointment that the new government decided to abandon the advanced process and restart procurement procedures.

“We respect every administration’s right to choose its procurement model, but we strongly object to attempts to claim credit for an initiative that was already in motion,” he asserted.

He concluded with a call for continuity and honest leadership: “Ghanaians deserve leadership that builds on progress, not one that repurposes the work of others as their own.”