It has emerged that the only toll booth in the Upper East Region that collected tolls for the Ghana Highways Authority at Pwalugu generated in excess of Gh 42,000,00 monthly into the authorities accounts.
George (Not real name), a toll collector at the Pwalugu toll both, disclosed that the booth was given a target of Gh1000.00 daily to meet by the staff but they often exceeded the target by extra Gh400 and 600 bringing their daily tolls to between Gh1400.00 and Gh1600.00.
Mr. George told the host of the Word Community Watch Show on Word fm, Mr. Simon Agana Blessing, that the decision to close the toll booth and stop the payment of tolls with the excuse that it was not generating enough revenue cannot be true if the amount of money generated per day is taken into consideration.
“It is not true that the toll booth was not generating enough revenue. The Pwalugu toll booth alone that has less vehicles passing through it and paying tolls, generated between Gh1400.00 and Gh1600.00 and sometimes more than that a day. Look at that money”
He said he and his 8 colleagues were shocked at the decision to close the booths overnight without prior notice to them. He wondered if that is allowed in the labour laws of Ghana.
“On the said faithful day, we were told that the last schedule officers should close the tolls at 12am by our boss. We initially thought it was a joke until the next morning when reality dawn on us. We were shocked at the decision to close the booths without prior notice to us. Is that allowed in our labour laws?”
All toll booths were closed by the a letter from the Minister of roads and Highways to the Highways Authority on the 17th of November,2021.
By: Simon Agana Blessing/mywordfmonline.com