<<Print>>

Authorities of the University Of Ghana (UG), have defied calls from members of the society to halt the decision to charge tolls from drivers who use the campus roads. A lot of people, especially legal practitioners have raised the issue of the legality of the proposed tolls. On Saturday, February 1, the toll took effect, with Private vehicles paying 1 Ghana Cedi, while taxis and commercial vehicles are charged 2 Ghana Cedis. This clearly amount to lawlessness, as any decision by any Institution or Government to impose levies or taxes on members of the general public, must first seek approval from Parliament. What intrigues us at The Herald is the apparent silence of Members of Parliament (MPs), since the debate about the proposed UG road user toll begun, not a single MP was heard condemning the decision of the University. If it was trivial politics, you will hear them engage in shouting match, which yields no results. Before Parliament resumed, the Deputy Minority leader, Domnic Nitiwul, under an Instrument of Emergency, had the Speaker of the House recall Parliament, to come and debate the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz Equity Fund. The interest was because it has assumed a political life of its own, with the opposition using it to say the Mahama-Amissah Arthur Government was corrupt. What the University is doing is nothing but an illegality in a democratic dispensation. The Vice Chancellor, is also doing everything he can to create disaffection for the Government. This is not the first of decisions taken by the University just to put the Government in bad light. Government must also be proactive when it comes to issues that affect the livelihood of people. They should have prevailed over the University from going ahead with this road user charge. The University Authorities responded by saying that they have to charge the tolls to pay for a loan they took from a bank in constructing and maintaining the roads on campus. Granted, the question we wish to ask the Authorities is that, how long are they going to collect the toll? Will it continue after servicing the loan?