Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs Ahmed Ibrahim has called for an urgent alliance with the Ministry of Roads and Highways to fix the city's crumbling inner-city road networks.

Speaking at a high-level stakeholder engagement hosted by the Ministry of Transport on Friday, January 16, 2026, the minister argued that the current transport crisis is as much an infrastructure failure as it is a vehicle logistics problem.

He noted that while commuters are stranded for hours during morning and evening rush periods, thousands of commercial drivers are actively avoiding "non-motorable" inner-city roads to prevent vehicle damage.

The minister’s intervention highlights a growing disconnect in Accra’s urban planning.

While the primary highways, like the George Walker Bush Motorway, facilitate flow, the arterial or intra-community roads that feed into these highways are in a state of severe disrepair.

This has created a situation where drivers cluster on a few safe routes, leading to massive bottlenecks, while underserved communities suffer from a total lack of transport options.

“We need to bring my brother, the Road Minister, in so that the intra-roads that are not motorable are fixed, and because of that, commuters and vehicles don’t want to go there. We [must] take expeditious actions in those areas,” Ahmed Ibrahim stated, referring to Kwame Governs Agbodza, the Minister for Roads and Highways.

The minister also issued a subtle warning regarding the balance between private transport operators (Trotros) and state-run services.

He suggested that if the private sector cannot meet demand due to poor road conditions, the government would be forced to take radical steps that might displace private businessmen.

“If you don’t do that as private road transporters and the government decides to bring as many as possible to augment the public fleet, where will the private sector stand?" he asked. "So we need complementary effort in this. It is not only the government to be shifting blames and this and this and that. I strongly believe the problem will be solved.”

The meeting comes at a time when the government is already moving to "augment the public fleet".

The minister recently disclosed that the Ayalolo bus service is expecting a €1 million grant from the Spanish Embassy to revive its grounded fleet.

However, he maintained that without fixing the intra-roads, even new buses would eventually be sidelined by mechanical breakdowns caused by poor terrain.

The engagement, which included the Vice President, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, and representatives from the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), focused on curbing "rent-seeking" behaviour, where some drivers create artificial shortages to hike fares.

Minister Ibrahim, however, urged all parties to move beyond mutual accusations.

“Don't let us be giving excuses, and don't let us be shirking responsibilities and be shifting blames. That it is you, it is me. If we are doing this, there's a problem,” he cautioned.