'Those whose duty it is to check, arrest trans-border haulage truckers disappointing this nation’ – Amoako-Attah

Roads and Highways Minister Kwasi Amoako-Attah has expressed his disappointment with Ghana's security services for looking on while trans-border haulage truckers flout Ghana's road traffic laws with impunity.

The truckers, he complained, not only enter the country with excess load but also park along the ears of the country’s highways, thus, exerting pressure on the road infrastructure which, consequently, leads to their destruction.

A very angry Amoako-Attah told journalists, after inspecting works on the ongoing VALCO Roundabout-Kpone road reconstruction project, that whether the truckers have to pay or not for the excess load, "somebody should be apprehending them first".

"Who is apprehending them?" he asked.

"And, if they are driving, whether in the day or in the night, you and I will not be there. You'll be working. I'll be working. Those whose duty it is to check them and apprehend them are disappointing this nation", he pointed out.

"I expect that, surprisingly, the police should come in and arrest all the drivers", he exclaimed.

The minister also said his ministry is replete with "thieves" and "corrupt" people, who are aiding and abetting the trans-border haulage truck drivers.

He complained that these truckers from neighbouring countries manage to bribe their way through with their excessively heavy loads without any checks from the law enforcement bodies.

He said while the truckers are afraid to overload their vehicles when entering their own countries, they freely flout Ghana's laws with impunity through the connivance of port and other security personnel.

Mr Amoako-Attah wondered how the truckers find their way into the country with excess load when there are axle-load centres dotted from the Tema Port and along the highway.

"There are people in my own ministry who are involved in this kind of thing", he complained.

"We have a number of axle load centres from here to Paga but they pass through", Mr Amoako-Attah bemoaned.

He said those who connive with the truckers do so in exchange for bribes but philosophised that no matter how much money they make through such unethical conduct, they would, like all human beings, die and leave everything behind.

"There are a lot of corrupt people, there are a lot of thieves in my own ministry. You sack them, employ new one and when they come the new ones are even worse than those that you sacked", the minister said.