The Roads and Highways Minister, Hon Kwesi Amoako Atta has said that, over the years he is been trying to stop the bribery and corruption in his ministry’s axle load sector but has not for once succeeded.
According to him, he has used all possible means including the security apparatus in the country but they all failed.
He wants to scrap trucks overloading into our country which damages the road
“We need to be patriotic to our country, I have a lot of information that big trucks are not able to enter other African countries but they are free to enter anyhow into our country with overload damaging our roads,” he said.
The Axle Load Regime spells out the weight every heavy load-duty cargo truck can carry in order to ensure road safety and prevent damage to roads.
According to the Minister, many of these heavy-load cars from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, etc are disregarding the standard by ECOWAS and partly causing damage on many of the highways of the country.
To ensure compliance with the regime, Kwesi Amoako-Atta has however revealed there is an Axle Load Unit in the Ministry of Roads and Highways that manages the various axle road centers to keep these drivers in check.
He therefore categorically stated that the menace is going on unchecked because many of his staff at the unit are thieves and corrupt who always look out for their selfish parochial gains to the detriment of the entire nation.
According to the Minister, he is reliably informed that many overloaded cargo trucks that freely ply Ghana’s roads dare not enter other countries with such loads and unauthorized axles.
Story by: Ahma Baidoo / Ahotoronline.com
