Veteran satirist, Kwaku Sintim-Misa, popularly known as KSM, has disagreed with the leader of the United Party (UP), Alan Kyerematen, over his comments on the use of public funds to construct the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.

Alan Kyerematen, while sharing his views on the road construction project at an event, said that although funding the project with public funds was a good idea, the government should instead channel the money into developing the health and education sectors.

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He added that the project could be funded by the private sector without the government having to spend public funds on it.

“… Construct an expressway from Kumasi to Accra. Fantastic idea. This is something that should have been done many years ago, but if government really has $4 billion, you are using $4 billion to finance a commercial road, which frankly can be financed by the private sector, whether domestic or foreign, with no difficulty.

"Because that's what happens in every country. Once it's a tollable road, you don't use government resources to fund a road that can pay for itself, let alone create a whole, I would say, administrative setup to manage that. Can you imagine what $4 billion can do for our health sector, our education sector, or even give those of you here interest-free loans to start your own businesses? That is what transformation is about,” Alan argued.

However, KSM, in his response, said the project should be seen as a source of national pride because it is being funded with internally generated funds rather than borrowed money.

He argued that Ghana should be able to use its own resources to develop major infrastructure instead of relying mainly on foreign investors or loans.

“Do you know the sense of national pride that we have as a nation that, for one time, we are constructing something useful to our nation, and for once we are not going to borrow anybody's money for that? Do you know the amount of pride it gives us as a nation? Do you know the amount of respect we carry as a nation to build such a major infrastructure with internally generated funds? Don't ignore it,” he asked.

KSM also questioned Alan on why foreign investors could not be encouraged to invest in other areas such as hospitals and schools while Ghana uses its own funds for major infrastructure projects.

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“If the foreign investors are there that you can use to build hospitals and schools, why don't you get the foreign investors to go and build the hospitals and schools so that the money we have, we want to use it to build our own infrastructure?” he further questioned.

“Maybe you're an economist and I am not, so, maybe I don't understand the logic but I'm saying this, that there's nothing wrong in a country that is developing and starting to rely on its own wealth, on its own locally or internally generated income to build its own resources. There's nothing wrong with that and so for me, Honorable Alan, I beg to differ,” KSM said.

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