The Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces completed the clearance of 175.6 kilometers of the route from Ablekuma in the Greater Accra Region to Sewua in the Ashanti Region in 19 weeks, one week ahead of the 20-week deadline set by the government. The exercise was undertaken to support the construction of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.
Despite the completion of the clearance exercise, the funding source for the project remains a mystery. Experts estimate that the cost of the exercise runs into tens of millions of dollars. A search conducted by The Daily Searchlight through the 2025 Budget Statement and Economic Policy, the 2025 MDA Budget Estimates, and subsequent official explanations could not identify the exact funding line used to carry out the project.
The 2025 Budget gives the Ministry of Defence a total allocation of GH¢6.3309 billion under the 2025 expenditure framework. However, the identified allocations are for defence-related programmes rather than the expressway-clearing exercise. The Ministry of Defence received GH¢5.691 billion for compensation, GH¢379.748 million for goods and services, and GH¢260 million for capital expenditure.
The 2025 Budget's infrastructure allocation places the Ministry of Roads and Highways at approximately GH¢3.245 billion for 2025. The Budget discusses works on the existing Accra-Kumasi Highway, including the four bypasses at Osino, Anina, Enyiresi, and Konongo. However, there is no expressway-clearing allocation under the Ministry of Defence section.
The Ghana Armed Forces' clearing of the expressway's right-of-way was undertaken in 2026. The GAF says its engineers were clearing a 175.6-kilometre corridor, with the work constituting a pre-construction activity supporting feasibility and engineering studies. The Ministry of Roads and Highways requested the employment of military engineers to undertake pre-construction activities on the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.
In July 2026, the Controller and Accountant-General's Department stated that the government had earmarked ABFA proceeds and mineral royalties in the 2025 Budget for the expressway and transferred the money into a dedicated Bank of Ghana account. However, the department expressly stated that the Ghana Armed Forces' ongoing right-of-way clearing was a separate preparatory activity and was not financed from those expressway funds.
The question remains as to how the Ghana Armed Forces was funded to perform the work. The enacted Appropriation Act, 2025, appropriated GH¢6,330,917,035 to the Ministry of Defence, broken down into compensation, goods and services, and capital expenditure. However, there is no specific allocation for the Accra-Kumasi Expressway clearing project.
Key points
- The funding source for the Accra-Kumasi Expressway clearing project remains unknown.
- The Ghana Armed Forces completed the clearance of 175.6 kilometers of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway route in 19 weeks.
- The 2025 Budget does not contain a specific allocation for the Accra-Kumasi Expressway clearing project.
