Last week, VIP and OA Transport companies issued a 14-day ultimatum to the government—demanding emergency road repairs or threatening a passenger levy. The headlines framed it as a call for road justice. But Ghanaians know to read between the lines.
Where was this urgency over the last eight years, while roads from Axim to Aflao deteriorated into death traps? Bridges collapsed, potholes expanded into craters, and economic arteries like the Accra-Kumasi and Cape Coast-Takoradi highways became endurance tests. All under a government whose tenure these transport companies navigated without protest.
Now, five months into a new administration, their voices thunder awake.
This isn’t advocacy—it’s *advantage-seeking.*
We must be wary of what’s emerging: a privatized protest economy, where silence is transactional and indignation is leased out by political convenience. This reduces public pain into partisan performance—and that is not governance. That is choreography.
Yes, our roads are in terrible shape. The Ghana Statistical Service reported in 2023 that poor roads cost the nation over GH¢1.9 billion annually in productivity losses and vehicle maintenance. These are not abstract numbers—they are the cost of inefficiency, poor planning, and complicit silence.
But structural decay demands structural honesty. If this threat of levies is truly rooted in public interest, then let it come with receipts: audited financials, transparent timelines, and sunset clauses for any levies introduced. No Ghanaian should pay extra for failures that could’ve been challenged years ago.
Historically, transport unions have played important roles in shaping national discourse. In the early 1980s, when inflation soared and the Cedi collapsed, they joined worker unions in calling for salary adjustments and fiscal discipline. But even then, their demands were collective and consistent, not politically episodic.
We must reclaim that civic integrity.
As a Ghanaian proverb cautions:—if you forget your past and fall into water, don’t blame the water’s depth. VIP and OA must not present themselves as victims of neglect they once silently endorsed.
Ghana’s development cannot be built on selective amnesia.
Scripture reminds us in Proverbs 20:10—”Differing weights and differing measures—the Lord detests them both.” Justice, in the eyes of God and governance, must be even-handed. Infrastructure advocacy must not be bartered behind closed doors, nor weaponized when political winds shift.
Let us fix the roads, yes—but also fix the culture of selective silence.
If government is expected to act with urgency, then let citizens and corporations act with consistency. Integrity must not be seasonal.
The Ghanaian public deserves accountability from all corners—not just when it suits an agenda.
Retired Senior Citizen
Teshie-Nungua
[email protected]
