“These past four years have been an amazing journey and I’m honored to have had the opportunity to serve my people and Lawra,” he wrote on his Facebook wall.

Hon. Karbo, also Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, was defeated by former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Bede Ziedeng.

In his congratulatory message, Karbo wrote: “the contest is over and it’s time to move Lawra Forward.”

“To the President and Vice President-Elect, congratulations as another four years await us to do more for Ghana. Our battle still remains for the Lord,” he wrote.

Below is his Facebook post:

According to Mr. Karbo, the previous administration’s decision to secure this loan, has led to releases to the Road Fund being hijacked by UBA.

“Last year [2016], the fund committed itself to a UBA loan of over 1.5 billion to pay contractors. As we speak, the loan is kicked in and releases to the Road Fund has been hijacked by the bank …”

Responding to complaints about poor roads and the new government’s inability to begin work on these roads, Mr. Karbo said: “our hands are tied. We are in a difficult situation. My Ministers have had sleepless nights about the state of road.”

Mr. Karbo made this revelation while offering explanations on some stalled road projects, including the Tema Motorway.

We’ve no money to fix Accra-Tema motorway

The Deputy Minister attributed government’s inability to fix these roads to lack of funds.

There have been several calls on government to complete the interchange and fix other portions of the Tema Motorway which many motorists say is in a deplorable state.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Karbo said the Road Fund, which was specifically set up to finance road projects across the country, is cash-strapped to finance these projects.

“As we speak, the loan is kicked in and releases to the road fund have been hijacked ..Our hands are tied. We are in a very difficult situation. My Ministers have had sleepless nights and we all use the road on a daily basis” he lamented.

As part of measures to address these challenges, Mr. Karbo said government is currently seeking a strategic investor to fund various road projects.

“We are working tirelessly to ensure that beyond the limited resources available to government and Ministry to do these roads, we get a concessionaire or get a strategic investor. Indeed, many have come before the Ministry and expressed interest in working with us to ensure that at least the current tolls can be used. ”

He has therefore called for support from various stakeholders in achieving this feet stating that development of the area must be a priority of all to make life comfortable for residents.

Karbo who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lawra Constituency of the Upper West region, during his thanksgiving tour of the area, called on residents to peacefully coexist with each other explaining that peace is a major prerequisite to development.

The Deputy Minister who worshipped on Sunday with the St. Peters Catholic Church in Lawra together with Mr. Martin Bomba-ire, the President’s nominee as District Chief Executive (DCE) for the Lawra District and some Party Executives said the NPP government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a government for the people.

He took the opportunity to announce the commitment by Government to connect some 48 villages in the Lawra District to the national grid within the next four years indicating that it was a sign of many good things to come.

He also reaffirmed his commitment to the development of Lawra by pledging to tackle, in particular, the poor road network bedeviling parts of the constituency.

In recognition of the vital role the Parish has played and continues to play in the life of residents of Lawra, he donated an amount of GHC 2000 as his widow’s mite to support the Church’s new building project.

He said most of the statements reported by the media and attributed to him during the run-up to elections 2012 and 2016 were all blown out of context.

“A lot of the statements were not the actual words from me but the media sometimes made meaning from what I said and tagged it to me,” Mr Karbo said in answering questions about his personality.

Mr Karbo was among three other deputy ministers designate who faced the ACP in the ongoing vetting of government’s appointees.

They were Mr Michael Gyato, a deputy minister designate for Sanitation and Water Resources, and Mr Benito Owusu-Bio, deputy minister designate for Lands and Natural Resources.

Almost all the questions asked Mr Karbo centred on statements he had made during his early years with the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr Karbo said although some of his previous comments were a bit inappropriate, they were never meant to create tension or show any disrespect to individuals to whom those statements were made.

“Looking at things from where I now stand as an MP, I agree to some extent that some of the comments were a bit untimely,” he told the committee.

Answering questions on the role he would play in the Roads and Highways Ministry, Mr Karbo said he would not perform any task outside the directive of his substantive minister.

“I am not going to work alone but with competent people like my minister. I intend to follow and assist him to deliver on his mandate as the Roads and Highways Minister,” he said.

Sanitation and water

The next candidate that faced the ACP was Mr Gyato.

His questions mainly centred on the field he had been appointed to serve.

Asked about what he would bring to the table, Mr Gyato said special attention would be given to issues that hampered Ghana’s quest to attain its sustainable development goals on sanitation.

“Like my minister said when he met the committee, the ministry would implement programmes that would address the sanitation issue in all our cities,” he said.

Realising the importance of sanitation in the development of Ghana, Mr Gyato said the creation of the ministry was an evidence of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s determination to properly address the issue of sanitation in Ghana.

“Ghana deserves to have a specific ministry to look properly at the issue of sanitation and water resources,” he added.

On the issue of plastics, Mr Gyato said a ban on plastics might not be the best option considering the fact that most businesses in the country relied on it to operate.

“What the ministry will look into are plans to recycle most of the plastics as companies have started to do. The ministry will offer more help to address the problem,” he added.

Asked what he would do to help address open defecation, he said apart from the World Bank project that sought to support communities and homes to improve on their sanitation, there were plans to ensure “one household, one toilet”.

Lands and natural resources

During his turn, which did not last that long, Mr Owusu-Bio was asked about his plans for the ministry he had been appointed to serve.

He talked about his commitment to support his minister to come up with policies that would address the problem affecting the administration of the country’s land and natural resources.

Mr Owusu-Bio also stressed the need for a proper look into certain areas in   land management, saying Ghana needed to protect its lands and natural resources.

He said every single act or move from him would be to assist his minister, adding that he would never show dishonour to his substantive minister because the two of them were not in competition.

source: Daily Graphic

This act though exemplary is contrary to the wide-held perception about politicians who spin and spun, wine and dine whilst poverty drives the masses to settle for the ‘lowest’ and ‘affordable ’delicacies.

Meanwhile, the act is not entirely unlikely about the Lawra lawmaker as he is known for his grass root activism, a trait which doesn’t appear to have been lost with his rise to office, as is in the case of other MPs.

source: ghanaweb