Traffic light components in front of police headquarters in Accra stolen by thieves - Roads Minister tells Parliament

One of the major problems facing the roads sector, especially with malfunctioning traffic lights across the country, is vandalism, the Minister of Roads, Governs Kwame Agbodza has told Parliament.

He said scrap dealers have been vandalising traffic lights and stealing their metal components to sell as scrap.

This is so rampant that even the traffic light in front of the Police headquarters in Accra has had its components stolen by thieves, the minister said.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, Mr Agbodza said there are about 415 traffic lights across the country.

Many of them are not working because people deliberately vandalise them and steal the components.

"... the traffic lights not working, it is on many occasions deliberate, where people go and vandalise the chambers. Some people actually vandalise the chambers and take the metal components and sell them as scrap metals, sometimes vehicles drive into them and then run away, and the value of the vehicles are sometimes less than the things they damage and this is widespread and we are appealing to the public to report any such vandalism to us".

"The irony is that even the one in front of the police headquarters was also stolen," Mr Agbodza said.