Not too long ago, the people of Ashaiman, Takoradi and Asamankese took to the streets to protest against the deteriorating state of roads in their respective areas.
The Ashaiman protest, for instance, turned bloody.
At a time virtually every community is demanding the reshaping of roads, this latest decision may have been taken by the government after careful consideration of all the options.
As a country, we have a lot to do to fix infrastructural gaps that can stimulate economic development.
The desire to bring all facilities up to standard also demands that we raise more revenue to finance our projects.
The government recently set up a task force to block the leakage in revenue mobilisation, a step, we think, if managed properly, will rake in a lot of revenue for the country.
But it is not enough to mobilise revenue; it is equally important to police the revenue such that unscrupulous individuals will not pocket state resources for their personal gain.
In 2009, the government adjusted rates at all toll booths, resulting in some protests by motorists.
Revenue from other sectors has been hiked to raise money to fund government expenditure. In spite of these upward adjustments, revenue has fallen short of expenditure, making it difficult for the government to meet the needs of the people.
Furthermore, the government should take pragmatic steps to stop the wanton dissipation of funds by public officials across the board.
This canker, we believe, is the bane of our present challenge of the lack of resources to fix our basic needs such as motorable roads, potable water, school buildings and hospitals.
There is a tendency that does not help our development process either and that is the “them and us” syndrome, where every policy of the government is criticised by its opponents.
Multiparty democracy is about choices, but the moment we have a government in place, it behoves all to rally behind that government to achieve the desired change in society.
Although the government may have good reasons for suspending new road contracts, the Daily Graphic thinks the decision may hurt plans to open up the country for business interactions.
It is for this reason that the government ought to take immediate steps to mobilise more resources for the development of the country, including ongoing and new road projects.
The decision to suspend new contracts and the inability to pay contractors for completed and ongoing projects may affect the businesses of road contractors.
We know that some of them rely on credit from the banks and elsewhere to finance these projects because now all projects are pre-financed.
The Daily Graphic urges the government to initiate the necessary strategies to raise funds for the development of the country, including our roads, since roads, especially good ones, stimulate economic development in every country.
We need such roads to promote good and efficient communication for all kinds of human endeavour and business interactions within the country and beyond.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
