By Ashiadey Dotse
The Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, has disclosed that the Ministry is seeking to recruit about 1,000 additional staff to address personnel shortages and improve operations across its agencies.
Mr. Agbodza made the announcement when he appeared before Parliament’s Select Committee on Economy and Development.
According to the Minister, the request was submitted by the Chief Director of the ministry due to increasing pressure on existing staff and the growing demands of the road sector.
He explained that the staffing shortage has become more serious following the creation of six new administrative regions without a corresponding increase in personnel for road agencies.
Mr. Agbodza said the situation has left key technical departments, including engineers and quality assurance officers, overstretched, making it difficult to effectively supervise road projects across the country.
He noted that the current workforce is inadequate to meet the demands of ongoing infrastructure projects, especially in the newly created regions where institutional capacity remains weak.
“The staffing level of the agencies is far less than what it should be. Considering the huge investments being made in road projects, some of the quality assurance challenges arise simply because we do not have enough people to monitor the projects,” he told the committee.
The minister revealed that approval has already been granted for the recruitment of 137 staff members, including engineers and quality survey experts, for the Ghana Highway Authority. However, he said the ministry’s overall staffing needs are much greater.
“We’ve got approval for 137 staff at various levels, including engineers and quality assurance personnel, but that was only for highways. The Chief Director has since submitted a request for about 1,000 additional staff because we created six new regions without recruiting new personnel for them,” he said.
Mr. Agbodza stressed that filling the staffing gap is essential to improving project monitoring, strengthening quality assurance and enhancing service delivery in the road sector.
He assured Parliament that efforts are underway to address the staffing challenges and build the operational capacity of the ministry and its agencies.
