The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has disclosed that the Chief Director of the Ministry has submitted a requested for the recruitment of approximately 1,000 additional personnel to strengthen operations across its agencies.
and address growing staffing shortages in the road sector.
Mr. Agbodza made the revelation when he appeared before Parliament’s Select Committee on Economy and Development on Wednesday, June 10, where he outlined challenges affecting the effective supervision and delivery of road infrastructure projects nationwide.
According to the Minister, the request was submitted by the Ministry’s Chief Director in response to increasing pressure on existing staff, particularly following the creation of six new administrative regions without a corresponding expansion in personnel strength.
He explained that the staffing deficit has left key technical departments overstretched, including engineers, quality assurance officers and other professionals responsible for monitoring road projects.
“The staffing level of the agencies is far less than what it should be,” Mr. Agbodza stated.
He noted that while government has secured approval to recruit 137 additional staff for the Ghana Highways Authority, including engineers and quality, safety and environment (QSE) officers, the number falls far short of the sector’s overall staffing requirements.
“We’ve got approval for 137 staff at various levels, QSEs, engineers and everything, but that was just for highways. The Chief Director has since submitted a request for about 1,000, because don’t forget, we created six new regions and didn’t actually staff them with new staff. We just shifted skeletal people from one place to another to those places,” he said.
The Minister assured Parliament that efforts are underway to resolve the staffing challenges and enhance the operational capacity of the Ministry and its agencies.
