Minister for Roads and Highways Kwame Governs Agbodza has disclosed less established contractors are in several instances outperforming bigger firms in the execution of the Big Push Projects. The minister made this observation after a working tour of the Bono, Savannah, and Upper West regions.
“The small contractors under Big Push are doing better than the big ones. Regardless of who you are, we will abrogate your contract if you fail to deliver,” Agbodza stated bluntly during the tour.
The Minister’s regional tour exposed a troubling disconnect between the promises made by large contractors at the bidding stage and the reality on the ground. Agbodza was particularly pointed in his frustration, questioning why firms that actively sought these contracts were now failing to honour the commitments they made to secure them.
“You came begging for the contract with assurances that you can do the job. Why are you not doing it as you claimed?” he asked, directing his remarks at contractors on the Wenchi-Bole-Wa Highway — one of the key arterial roads under the programme linking the Bono and Savannah regions.
Maripoma Construction emerged as a prominent example of big-contractor underperformance. The Minister accused the firm of mobilising to site only upon learning of his visit, saying: “You packed and came to site just yesterday because you heard we were coming.”
Agbodza argued that the underperformance of larger contractors is not accidental, it reflects a long-standing culture within Ghana’s road construction industry where deadlines carry no real consequences.
“When Ghanaian contractors take a job, they know that there is no penalty for not completing on time, so they complete when they complete. But on this Big Push, it is not like that. You have to complete on time, and if we see you working slowly, we will take the job from you,” he warned.
That culture, he made clear, will not be tolerated under the current administration. The political cost of contractor failure, he noted, is real and falls on the presidency itself.
“Why should the President suffer abuse for giving you a job that you failed to deliver?” he asked.
The Minister’s message to large contractors was unambiguous: size and reputation will not insulate any firm from consequences. On the Wenchi-Bole-Wa Highway, he said: “I am not impressed with the speed of work, and we will abrogate if necessary to reward serious contractors.”
To Maripoma, he was even more direct: “No contractor is bigger than government. I will terminate you and we meet in court.”
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