The Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Nasir Ahmed Yartey, has clarified that the maintenance of faulty streetlights is the responsibility of local authorities, not his ministry.
He highlighted that a legal framework specifically assigns this duty to the local assemblies where the streetlights are located.
During an interview with Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM, Mr Yartey referred to Section 4 of a policy document to support his clarification.
He mentioned, “We have a framework on street lights and I can make reference to the August 2011 policy document. I don’t know whether there has been an update to it but if you go to Section 4 of the document, where it talks about the policy direction when it comes to street lights, it places ownership and responsibility for the maintenance of street lights in the hands of the local authority.”
He further elaborated that while the Ministry of Roads and Highways is responsible for installing streetlights during road construction, the maintenance responsibility shifts to the local assemblies once the construction is completed.
Mr Yartey stressed that the local authorities, not the Ministry of Roads and Highways, are tasked with the ongoing maintenance of streetlights.
“What happens is that as a Roads Ministry, when we are constructing roads, we provide the infrastructure, and so for example, if you go to Borteyman to School Junction, you will see that we have provided street lights and that is what we do.
“We add the provision of street lights to the road contract but when we are done constructing, the laws place the street lights in the hands of the local authority and that is why they collect levies for street lights.
“So if you are looking for the authority responsible for the maintenance of street lights, it is the local authority.”