It was the contractor who said Second Chance Church was obstructing the road, not Agbodza – Spokesperson

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has clarified remarks made during an inspection of the Kumasi-Konongo Bypass, following a headline suggesting that he accused the Second Chance Church, founded and led by Prophet Stephen Adom Kyei-Duah, of blocking the road and denying contractors access to undertake construction works.

The minister’s spokesperson, Kojo Danquah, said the allegation that the church was blocking the road and denying access was made by the contractor working on the project and not by the minister.

He said the minister’s actual response was to direct the contractor to find an appropriate access arrangement for the church, provide an additional lane, fix the road leading to the church, urgently address the drainage challenges and undertake an additional 600 metres of road works.

“The allegation that the church was blocking the road and denying access was made by the contractor, not the Minister,” Danquah said in a statement on October 1, 2026.

He added that the video of the minister’s interaction with the contractor clearly captured the instructions given by Agbodza.

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“Misattributing statements to public officials is a serious matter, particularly when such misrepresentation creates a completely false impression of what transpired. The record must be set straight,” the spokesperson said.

The clarification follows concerns raised by the contractor during the minister’s inspection of the Kumasi-Konongo Bypass.

The contractor attributed persistent drainage challenges and the failure of a section of the road to access works and activities around the Second Chance Church, also known as Philadelphia.

According to the contractor, the affected section of the road had completely failed, forcing the project team to excavate the area and undertake extensive filling using boulders and crushed rock.

He explained that nearly two metres of material had been added to raise the road in an attempt to address the recurring failure, but the drainage problem had persisted.

“All the cross-drainages that we did here are all silted again because of the activities from this area,” the contractor told the minister.

He identified access routes being created around the church as one of the major challenges affecting the project.

“We are having issues with the access being created around Second Chance, the church of Prophet Stephen Adom Kyei-Duah, and that is what has actually caused the failure here,” he said.

The contractor further warned that the drainage infrastructure could become blocked again even after rehabilitation works were completed if the access and drainage challenges were not resolved.

He noted that the road was originally about a metre lower but had subsequently been raised by almost two metres as part of efforts to address the recurring failure.

Despite the elevation, he said the drainage challenge remained unresolved.

The contractor indicated that asphalt works on the affected section were expected to begin within a week to a week and a half, after which the project team would move to other sections of the bypass.

He, however, cautioned that proceeding with asphalt works without first resolving the drainage and access challenges could undermine the rehabilitation works and result in another failure.

“If that problem is not solved, we might undermine the road again and create problems,” he warned.

AM

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