The debate on the 2026 budget estimates for the Ministry of Roads and Highways was rocked by strong objections from the Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who warned that ‘significant discrepancies’ in the Ministry of Finance’s reporting on road expenditure must be corrected before Parliament approves the requested GH¢5 billion allocation.
Contributing to the committee’s report debate, Oppong Nkrumah insisted that while more funding is crucial for road development, the foundational data presented to the House was flawed, rendering the new request unreliable. He stated that the Minority side would only support the report’s adoption after the inconsistencies were fully reconciled.
“These discrepancies are very significant. Before we mount a new allocation, the foundation we are building on must be corrected,” he stressed.
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Oppong Nkrumah focused his critique on the utilisation of the 2025 funds, particularly under the government’s flagship Big Push road programme, which he argued contained major contradictions.
He cited data suggesting an attempt to reclassify old payments to contractors under the new initiative, which he described as deceptive to the public.
“The Big Push was launched on 16th September. It is impossible that within two weeks, GH¢10 billion worth of certificates were issued, processed and paid,” the Ofoase-Ayirebi MP argued, questioning the timeline of expenditure.
He further referenced a claim that GH¢3.3 billion—previously allocated under the domestic capital budget- is now being attributed to Big Push payments.
“This becomes difficult to reconcile. It appears old contractor payments are being reported as Big Push payments, and that will be deceptive,” he cautioned.
The MP stressed a particularly troubling inconsistency in the Budget, which reported that GH¢5.1 billion had been paid from mineral royalties for Big Push works by September, yet the year-end recorded figure would be GH¢4.9 billion.
This US$1 billion difference, he suggested, implies an impossible claw-back of funds from contractors.
“Money that has been paid out cannot be clawed back from contractors. This raises serious questions about the accuracy of the reporting,” he noted, insisting that Parliament step down the request until all data is corrected.
Minister Agbodza acknowledges inconsistencies
In his response, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, acknowledged that the Auditor-General’s validation process for Road Fund certificates had, in fact, exposed inconsistencies dating back to the previous NPP governemnt, including instances of recycled certificates.
He assured the House that the Ministry is committed to addressing the issues, stating that all validated certificates would be cleared by the end of December 2025.
Agbodza also confirmed that several abandoned projects, including the Dodowa–Ayi Mensah, Trans–Tema Corridor, and Dominase–Kokoben roads, are now being actively completed under the Big Push initiative. He reiterated the government’s commitment to improving road networks across every constituency.
Despite the strong objections from the Minority and the acknowledged data issues, the House subsequently approved the GH¢5 billion allocation for the Ministry of Roads and Highways for its 2026 expenditure.