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Claim: The NPP Acting National Chairman Danquah Smith Buttey claimed that former Minister for Roads and Highways Francis Asenso-Boakye awarded the contract for the Accra–Kumasi Expressway.
Verdict: Misleading! Official records from the Ministry of Roads and Highways show that while earlier dualisation contracts for the existing N6 highway (including the Ofankor–Nsawam stretch and four town bypasses) were awarded in 2022 under former Minister Kwasi Amoako-Attah, no civil construction contract for the new, standalone six-lane Accra–Kumasi Expressway was awarded during Asenso-Boakye’s tenure or before the NPP left office.
Full Text
A live radio exchange posted on Facebook between a journalist and Danquah Smith Buttey, Acting National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has reignited debate over the status of the Accra–Kumasi transit corridor.
On Facebook, the claim can be seen here, here, here, and here.
In the interview, the journalist explicitly asked whether the NPP government had awarded the contract for the new express road linking Accra to Kumasi.
In response, Buttey repeatedly directed the interviewer to contact former Minister for Roads and Highways, Francis Asenso-Boakye, asserting that Asenso-Boakye awarded the construction contract.
When pressed by the journalist to name the specific contractor or present proof, Buttey was unable to identify the firm, accusing the host of “interrogating” him and claiming that statements to that effect had been made in Parliament.
So far, the video has garnered almost 5,000 likes and 2000 comments.
DUBAWA decided to evaluate Buttey’s claim against official Ministry of Roads and Highways procurement filings, Parliamentary records, and current project execution timelines.
Verification
1. The Explicit Distinction: Amasaman Dual Carriage vs. The New Expressway
In the interview transcript, the journalist explicitly distinguished between two different infrastructure undertakings along the corridor: “I am not talking about the dual carriage on the Amasaman road, I am talking about the new express road.”
This distinction is central to evaluating the claim:
- The Existing N6 Dualisation & Expansion: This includes the 33.4 km Ofankor–Nsawam (Amasaman) reconstruction contract awarded to local contractor Maripoma Enterprise Limited, as well as bypass contracts around Osino, Anyinam, Enyiresi, and Konongo awarded to local firms in 2022; however, work started in 2023(pg 144).
- The Standalone Accra–Kumasi Expressway: This is a completely separate 176 km to 198.7 km, six-lane, access-controlled Class-A superhighway designed as an independent high-speed transit route.
2. Did Francis Asenso-Boakye or the NPP Award the Expressway Contract?
No. Francis Asenso-Boakye served as Minister for Roads and Highways in 2024, taking over from Kwasi Amoako-Attah (under whose tenure the 2022 N6 bypass and Ofankor–Nsawam dualisation contracts were executed).
A review of the Ministry of Roads and Highways records and official contract registries confirms the following:
- No Civil Works Contract Executed: Neither Asenso-Boakye nor his predecessor signed or awarded a physical construction contract for the standalone six-lane Accra–Kumasi Expressway.
- Advisory & Feasibility Studies Only: Between 2017 and 2018, the NPP administration oversaw preliminary transaction advisory work (PwC report, August 2017) and pre-feasibility assessments (KS Joint Venture, November 2018) to explore potential Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concessions. However, these studies did not materialise into an executed construction contract or sod-cutting for the superhighway prior to the administration leaving office.
3. Current Status and Procurement Timeline for the Expressway
Official updates presented to Parliament further refute the assertion that the expressway contract had already been awarded:
- In May 2026, Minister for Roads and Highways Governs Kwame Agbodza clarified during a road inspection that the standalone Expressway is a distinct project that will complement—rather than replace—the existing N6 dualisation works.
- On July 23, 2026, Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson announced in Parliament during the Mid-Year Budget Review that $1.7 billion had been ring-fenced and deposited at the Bank of Ghana for the Expressway under the “Big Push” initiative.
- Dr Forson confirmed that detailed engineering designs were scheduled for completion by late August 2026, with the formal procurement process to award the primary construction contract set for September 2026.
4. Examination of Alleged Parliamentary Statements
In the transcript, Buttey argued: “They have said this so many times in parliament still you are doubting.”
While reports on concession frameworks and advisory proposals for the corridor were laid before Parliamentary committees in previous years, records from the Roads and Highways Committee confirm that no finalised, funded civil construction contract for the standalone superhighway was awarded by the previous administration.
Conclusion
Danquah Smith Buttey’s claim that former Roads Minister Francis Asenso-Boakye awarded the contract for the Accra–Kumasi Expressway is misleading.
When specifically pressed about the new standalone expressway—as distinct from the Amasaman (Ofankor–Nsawam) dualisation project—the NPP Acting Chairman attributed the contract award to former Minister Francis Asenso-Boakye but could not identify the contractor.
While the NPP administration previously awarded dualisation contracts (pg 11) along the old N6 route in 2022 (under former Minister Kwasi Amoako-Attah), no civil construction contract for the standalone six-lane Accra–Kumasi Expressway was awarded under Asenso-Boakye’s tenure or before the NPP left office.
