The Director of Policy for the United Party (UP), Dr Nana Yaw Adutwum, has urged the government to involve private investors in financing the proposed Accra-Kumasi Expressway to free up public funds for outstanding payments owed to teachers.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue on Saturday, October 10, he questioned the decision to ring-fence more than $2 billion for the project when teachers were demanding payment of promotion arrears and deprived area allowances.
Dr Adutwum described the expressway as a commendable infrastructure project but argued that alternative financing arrangements could allow the government to meet other pressing obligations.
“If you look at government priority settings, for example, the Expressway, another infrastructure development that government is doing, commendable. But it’s the financing scheme that we think that it could be better, where we can have space to reallocate funds to support or motivate some of these very important critical expenditures. That is why we disagree with government that to ringfence over $2 billion to wait for contract to be awarded for Expressway to start financing Expressway expenditure. Why don’t you invite the private sector to bear part of that cost so that you can have funds available to deal with these pressing matters?” he questioned.
His comments follow the suspension of industrial action by the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG) and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) after a meeting with the Council of State.
The three teacher unions had embarked on strike over outstanding promotion arrears, deprived area allowances and other conditions of service.
