Merge Ministry of Railways with Roads Ministry – Amaliba suggests

A member of the legal team of the National Democratic Congress, Abaraham Amaliba, wants government to merge the Ministry of Railways Development with the Ministry of Roads and Highways, arguing the establishment of the former is unjustifiable.

Mr Amaliba said he did not see the justification in the establishment of the Railways Development Ministry by the Akufo-Addo-government especially so when the country does not have active railway system. President Akufo-Addo created the Ministry to among other things, see to the completion of the Boankra inland port project and the Eastern Railway Line.

The project which is a Public Private Partnership seeks to facilitate the transportation of goods between the North (Tamale) and South (Takoradi and Tamale ports) “There is the only one railway line which is active in the country, but the government has created a whole ministry with only one railway line” Mr Amaliba wondered while commenting on the Monday morning train accident at Tesano in Accra.

Some passengers on board the Accra-bound train from Tema sustained injuries when one of four coaches of the train derailed under circumstances yet to be established by a three-man committee set up by the Ministry of Railways Development.



Commenting on the accident during the newspaper review segment of TV3 New Day on Tuesday, Mr Amaliba said the creation of the ministry was unjustifiable adding that with just one active rail line in the country, one expected the Ministry to be up and doing.

“You attach it to an existing ministry that will help establish the only one railway line which is active. I recommend that [the] Ministry merge with the Roads Ministry, then you give it a deputy minister. That minister alone focuses on that sector”, he advised.



However, a legal practitioner and also a Member of the New Patriotic Party, Henry Kwabena Kokofu, said “what is happening now [in the railway sector] is systemic failure because the railway sector is highly capital intensive sector”. He said over the years, the sector which was under a ministry, did not produce results hence “… we don’t do things the same way and expect better results”.

“You don’t do so by putting such a major situation into a Ministry. That is what we have been doing all years”, the former MP for Bantama observed.