The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has completed the clearing of 175.6 kilometers of the proposed Accra-Kumasi Expressway corridor, from Ablekuma in the Greater Accra Region to Sewua in the Ashanti Region, in 19 weeks, one week ahead of the 20-week deadline. The work involved clearing dense vegetation and difficult terrain, described by the Government as a critical pre-construction activity. The speed and scale of the operation have raised questions about the equipment used and its ownership.
The few publicly available photographs from the operation appear to show heavy earthmoving machinery commonly used in large-scale road construction and surface-mining operations. The GAF has its own engineering capability, and the United States Embassy donated three heavy-duty trailer heads to the GAF Engineer Training School in June 2026 to transport heavy machinery. The equipment was meant to support major projects, including the Accra-Kumasi Expressway.
In April, the GAF indicated that its operation involved four work gangs operating day and night, with "most equipment" already on site and funding secured. At that stage, 17.75 kilometers had been cleared during mobilization. By July, the GAF reported that 108 kilometers, about 61 percent of the clearing assignment, had been completed. The operation involved about 78 military engineers drawn from various regiments and supported by logistics and administrative personnel.
The scale of the mobilization makes the equipment question more important. If the machines were wholly owned by the GAF, the public deserves to know which GAF equipment fleet was deployed. If some were hired, borrowed, leased, or otherwise obtained from private companies, the identity of those companies and the terms of acquisition become matters of legitimate public interest.
The Controller and Accountant-General's Department (CAGD) stated that funds transferred to Accra-Kumasi Expressway Limited, the Government-owned special purpose vehicle, were not used to finance the GAF's right-of-way clearing. The clearing was a separate preparatory activity, and the project funds remained in a dedicated Bank of Ghana account pending execution of the project. This explanation makes the question of the clearing operation's financing unavoidable.
The Daily Searchlight has been asking related questions about the institutional and corporate structure behind the Accra-Kumasi Expressway. Government has publicly identified Accra-Kumasi Expressway Limited (AKEL) as the special purpose vehicle established under the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund to undertake the development, financing, construction, operation, and maintenance of the project.
The questions remain: Who owned the heavy equipment used in clearing the 175.6-kilometer corridor? If any of the equipment was privately owned, which company or companies supplied it? The public should not have to guess who supplied the machines that opened the road to its construction, especially for a project presented as one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in Ghana's history.
Key points
- The Ghana Armed Forces completed the clearing of 175.6 kilometers of the Accra-Kumasi Expressway corridor in 19 weeks.
- The equipment used by the GAF and its ownership, procurement, and cost have raised questions.
- The Controller and Accountant-General's Department stated that project funds were not used to finance the GAF's right-of-way clearing.
