Use Alternative Routes If You Can't Pay Tolls - Legon Tells Public

Authorities of the University of Ghana have called the bluff of the public, insisting that motorists, who cannot pay tolls to ply the university roads, should find alternative routes. "The public does not have to use the university roads; there are alternative roads," Akyea Afreh Arhin, Legal Counsel for the University said Friday, on the Joy FM. The university has announced that effective February 1, 2014, drivers of private vehicles will have to pay Gh�1 before they can have access to the university, while commercial vehicles and trucks will be charged Gh�2 and Gh�3 respectively. The managers of the institution claim the decision to toll the roads is to enable them repay a loan they contracted from a bank to reconstruct the roads. There is however, a strong public rejection by members of the public notably, lawyer Egbert Fabille, who say the move is illegal because it does not have parliamentary approval. According to Mr. Fabille, Legon will be setting a bad precedent if it goes ahead to implement the decision without having it approved by the legislature. "What about if one day, looking at this University of Ghana example, Korlebu Teaching Hospital gets up and says that...it is introducing a tolling system without going through proper legislative approval?" "...You will see pockets of taxation all over Ghana and very soon nobody will be able to go anywhere in Ghana unless you pay," lawyer Fabille cautioned. Meanwhile, authorities are scheduled to meet today to decide whether or not they can go ahead and charge tolls from tomorrow as planned. This follows a suit served on the university by a court ballif, barely 24 hours to the implementation of the decision. It is therefore unclear if the authorities would go ahead to charge the tolls in spite of the suit filed against them.