Fraud Hits Akom Weighbridge

CREDIBLE information indicates that the Akom Weighbridge which is located near Offinso in the Ashanti Region has become a breeding ground to dupe government with several hundreds of thousands of Ghana cedis by the Supervisor of the station, Kowu Yao Agbezedor and his cronies.

Investigations conducted on the operations of the Akom Weighbridge revealed massive rot by Mr. Agbezedor, who touted his credentials and wondered if the Reporter had done a background checks on who he is before interviewing him, as he prides himself as carving a niche for himself and for that matter asked this Reporter to google his name and know who he really is vis-à-vis the feat of the station.

The investigations discovered that the Supervisor has allegedly teamed up with owners of some heavy-duty trucks within the Ashanti Region to set up an office inside the Goro Market at Asawase in the Ashanti Region to enrich themselves by charging unauthorized fees on offending overloaded truckers and letting them off the hook, an allegation the supervisor has denied.

It has therefore been observed that the weighbridges constructed in various parts of the country to ensure that trucks keep to the permissible load weights are not serving their purpose due to the corrupt practices of some persons, despite the stringent measures put in place by the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) to check operations of the weighbridges.

The modus operandi, according to the investigations, is that the act is being done without the knowledge of James Brown, owner of Joshop, the company that won the bid to operate the station and it is alleged that the Supervisor and his agents have been falsifying weighing certificate and cashing in big time.

it came to light during the investigations that one Alhaji Mutum, who is the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Gargo Haulage Haulers Association and who has very strong links with some top politicians in government, is allegedly responsible for charging GH¢200.00 on each overloaded vehicle and then prepares a list for the day, after which he texts the numbers of the trucks to Mr. Agbezedor’s mobile phone at the Akom station, who would then allow the overloaded trucks free passage without going through the weighing system.

The GHA under whose jurisdiction the weighbridges fall, privatized the about 12 stations across the country, first, with those at the Tema Motorway and Bogoso, which are EU-sponsored projects on a pilot basis in August 2007.

The privatization could enforce the permissible axle limits for loading trucks. The situation causes extensive damage to the roads, and this constitutes a source of danger to other road users, whilst trucks, mostly from land-locked countries, break down frequently due to faults developed as a result of overloading.

It was for this reason that the weighbridge system or axle load check was put in place to check overloading of trucks. However, some see these stations as goldmine to amass wealth for themselves, and for that matter.

Having tasted the thirst quenching nature of manning the weighbridges, Mr. Agbezedor is alleged to have aligned with his friend - Alhaji Mutum to set up a company with the name ‘Itakula E & T Enterprise’ to bid for four axle load stations at Akom, Nsawam in the Eastern Region, Jema in the Brong Ahafo Region and another one at a location yet to be identified.

According to our search, the two are lobbying seriously through some top politicians, including a Member of Parliament (whose name is withheld for now) to secure these weighbridges.

It is envisaged that if they succeed in their bid to manage all the four stations, it would be a cool chop for them, in view of the fact that they are on the same root and as such, their illegal deal would flourish without any hindrance from any other operator.

In a telephone interview with Mr. Agbezedor to react to the allegation, he denied any knowledge of the location of the said office at Asawase but stated that in some cases when the truckers have problems with regards to overloading, some high profile personalities invariably lead the rivers to plead on their behalf.

He, however, questioned this Reporter if he (Reporter) had ever taken a look at the station’s report on its performance to see how, though at the centre of the country, it has been able to rake in so much money for the state through fines on overloaded trucks.

He stressed that in some cases, the station charges fines to the tune of about GH¢1, 800.00 on offending truckers; a situation he said was meant to discourage them from overloading, opining that the rake in about GH¢200,000.00 monthly through fines, and wondered if such an allegation was true, how would that reflect to the high performance of the station.

Notwithstanding the amount he claims the station rakes in a month, the rationale is not to encourage overloading since the damage caused to the road is not commensurate with the fines paid, and hence, one should not pride oneself of the money realized through fines on overloaded vehicles.

For his part, the Ashanti Regional GHA Axle Load Coordinator, Rev. Kwaku Osei Kusi said even though he has heard about the under dealings, what he can authoritatively say is that somewhere last year, some vehicles were apprehended by the Authority’s mobile weighing van, but there was a directive from ‘above’ to release the said vehicles after Alhaji Mutum had gone to see the then Regional Minister, who also talked to the Regional director of GHA.

According to him, even though his outfit was leaving no stone unturned to checking overloading, the truckers try to outsmart them, since most of them monitor their movement, and as a result, would wait for several days until the team leaves a particular location before they (truckers) continue their journey.

It is common knowledge that most of the vehicles from the Tema Harbour consistently avoid the Tema Motorway weighbridge and detour to unapproved routes to avoid being apprehended. Whilst some pass through the Nungua Beach road, others go through the Tema Community Nine roundabout and join the Tema General Hospital road through the Ashiaman overhead and link to the Motorway and thereby dodge the Axle load station on the Motorway; whilst others use the Spintex road to link up at

Some of the trucks also load from the Industrial Area in Accra and move straight to Kumasi, and since there is no functioning weighbridge along the route, offending truckers are able to reach Kumasi and from there, they make

their way through after paying the illegal fine of GH¢200.00.

Even though the weighbridges rake in money, the prime concern is safeguarding the country’s property, and as such, operators should ensure that the investments made by government and its developing partners are well protected.