President John Mahama has joined the scores of Ghanaians lamenting the poor maintenance of commercial vehicles as well as the reckless driving on roads in Ghana, saying they are the main causes of the many road accidents in the country.
According to him, stakeholders in the transport sector must do a lot more work to make the roads safer for users.
The President’s comments came after last Wednesday’s road accident which claimed the lives of over 60 people in Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The President, who was speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of the Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor, at the Flagstaff House, said the Police Service and the National Road Safety Commission need to collaborate more effectively to reduce the high rate of road accidents.
“I believe that the Police Service working with the National Road Safety Commission should continue to do its best to see how we can bring down the rate of vehicle accidents.”
President Mahama noted that Ghana has one of the highest rates of deaths from road accidents and this, according to him, is as a result of driver errors and poor vehicle conditions.
“We are reputed to be one of the countries together with several African countries to have one of the highest rates of deaths from accidents, and a lot of them are as a result of driver error out of poor training, and a lot of it is also as a result of technical faults with the vehicles so our standard of maintenance of the vehicles leaves a lot to be desired.”
He also reiterated the pledge made by the management of the Metro Mass Transport to pay the medical bills of the survivors of the accident.
“The government is doing everything to assist them. We have asked that their medicals bills be taken care of at the hospitals they have been sent to. We will see how we can assist to make it easier on the families.”
President Mahama also acknowledged the near-disaster on the Yeji-bound ferry from Makango near Tamale, which was averted due to the swift intervention of rescuers from the Ghana Navy.
He has also directed that new ferries be released for use by commuters to ensure better safety on water ways.
“We believe that we should take a look at the safety of our ferries… we have new ferries that I have asked to be deployed immediately so that we can be sure that our people are safe and secure, when they have to cross some of the many rivers that we have.”
<<Print>>