The Government of Ghana has withheld the implementation of the mandatory tow levy which was scheduled to have commenced on 1st July, 2017.
The decision followed extensive consultations between the Minister for Transport and stakeholders in the transport sector.
"Upon consultations consequent to the calls, Government has decided to seek a review of parts of the law specifically to achieve the following objectives:
- Removal from the law, the concept of a mandatory towing levy on all owners and persons in charge of motor vehicles and trailers.
- The role of government in the provision of towing services will be limited to only licensing and regulating service providers", a statement issued by the Transport Minister Kwaku Ofofi Asiamah read.
Responding to the statement on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', the Director of Operations of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) Nana Ofori Owusu is of a strong view that the Akufo-Addo government is throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians.
According to him, the picture painted by the government that the mandatory towing levy has been withdrawn is not true.
He explained to host Nana Yaw Kesse that the government is rather reviewing the law, which to him, shouldn't be the case.
Nana Ofori Owusu wondered why the government is refusing to abolish the law that encourages the mandatory towing levy because there's already an existing law that regulates the transport sector.
To him, the towing levy should be completely abolished and the appropriate transport authorities should be mandated and resourced to do their work effectively to rid the nation of any road accidents.
“Already in our statute books, this thing exists. It’s not a new phenomena. So, what we don’t understand is that the thing is already there and you want to enact a new law. Implement the law as it is. Strengthen the MTTD. Liaise with the assemblies and liaise with private sector to get this job. Already the law gives this room. So, we don’t need to talk about this any longer. It should be withdrawn holistically.
“We’re being lazy as a nation that the way that we must follow to solve road accidents, we don’t want to solve. But we won’t to create some another opportunity somewhere. It must be stopped. The voice of the people, in this case, is the voice of God and everybody is crying about this. We cannot sit as a nation and continue to enact laws and regulations on top of other laws and regulations that exist and working . . . If the government wants to do this, all you do is you empower the MTTD to patrol the highways to be reactive in situations. Towing of vehicles to the private sector, you surcharge the person to do their work,” he said.
“They haven’t withdrawn it. They’re reviewing it. They should withdraw it and abolish it, and throw it away . . . Read the last (statement) sentence of the statement. It’s under review. When you say something is under review, you haven’t abolished it and thrown it away. It should be thrown away,” he further stressed.
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