Where is the government’s policy on safer roads in Ghana?

With 60 billion allocated in the 2006 budget for the process of street naming and house numbering, let our government also care enough to update the nature of our roads to appreciable standards. The article carried by the Statesman (November 11, 2006, Street Naming: Konongo Takes The Lead) shows that the first pilot schemes are underway - with streets in the Asante Akim North District of the Ashanti Region.

We need to recommend the authorities involved for taking the initiative. The street naming must take into consideration the great sons and daughters of the districts who have contributed immensely towards the developments of their towns though. The first name given to a main street in Konongo, First Avenue, sounds more like the avenues and streets of New York. I don’t have a problem with that however, my concern is, if we dare name our roads as the article indicates then let our government also care enough to update the nature of our streets/roads to the same standards as in New York or elsewhere in the West (See photos http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/photo.day.php?ID=114359

The government’s attitude

According to Mr. Magnus Opare-Asamoah, Deputy Minister of Road Transport, the Government has invested 10 trillion cedis in the road transport sector from 2002 to 2005 representing about 33 per cent of the Budget. About 90 per cent of the amount invested in road transport, according to the Deputy Minister goes into maintenance, with the bulk being undertaken by local contractors. Mr. Opare-Asamoah is also noted as saying that the Government did not want such funds to go to waste hence the need for the contractors to put their acts together in order to meet the expectation of the population. (GNA Dec. 5, 2006). The only way funds allocated to road maintenance would not go to waste would be to force the contractors to maintain or follow some laid down standards. Until the Ministry of Transport could do this I am afraid, nothing will change.

How should Ghana spend more on repairs than new roads when most of the roads being repaired are still below standard? Why doesn’t the government spend the money on creating high quality roads that will last a lifetime? These sub-standard roads are repaired but in less than six months they are seen as worst than it was previously. One of the reasons is that the contractors do shoddy jobs and no one seems to supervise or inspect their work to make sure they have really completed their work. Just look at the Konongo High street below. Yet Konongo is a major metropolitan town in the Ashanti Region.

Ghana roads cannot last even 5 years. Nor do we find the Ministry of Roads and Highways (GHA) checking our roads and doing the required maintenance. Hundreds of lives could be saved each year through improved roads. A commitment to world's best practice in the design, construction, maintenance and upgrade of key national roads must inform national land transport planning under State law.

According to Mr. Magnus Opare-Asamoah, Deputy Minister of Road Transport the Government is aware of the problems confronting the local contractors and was, therefore, doing all it could to help to alleviate them. The issues or challenges he numerated as militating against the smooth functioning of local contractors to deliver good quality work. included the inability of the contractors to meet deadlines, delay in payment for work done and high cost of equipment and lack of qualified human resources. The solutions the Deputy Minister suggested to arrest the issues was “local contractors to collaborate among themselves to share risks, opportunities and to be able to compete with foreign companies” (GNA Dec. 5, 2006).

In my opinion the Deputy Minister’s solution to the problems raised is not only inadequate but also a clear example of lack of any responsible government policy on road maintenance and infrastructure. How do you vote so much money for road improvements without first making sure there is availability of the required machinery?

Only advising local contractors to collaborate among themselves to share risks, opportunities and to be able to compete with foreign companies is not only ironic but also a blatant display of lack of business principles. After all these contractors are not NGOs, they are profit making enterprises. It is very pathetic that the Ministry of Transport feels it is solving a problem with a problem. The solution to the problems Deputy Minister enumerated only comes back to explain the government’s lack of understanding of the issues as well as having no specific plan to solve the issues.

Again the African road safety literature review, (chapter 7, Table7.1) has provided a model Traffic Safety Policy for Road Sector Development Programmes in Africa as follows:

The following guidelines shall apply to all major road rehabilitation projects:

Road signs and markings to be a basic/automatic component of any road rehabilitation project and this will involve updating and not the rehabilitation of existing signs and markings. Accident analysis will be undertaken on available accident data. Road engineers will liaise with police and make effort to identify local accident pattern. Road engineers should also provide traffic police with strip maps of project road to facilitate future accident location referencing. Additional road accident monitoring (hospitals, community NGOs) should be encouraged to identify all injury road accidents occurring. Accident costs are to be included in the economic appraisal of a road project. Safety Audits will be conducted on all major road schemes and low cost remedial measures to be funded at hazardous locations identified by accident analyses or safety audits. Speed reduction measures will be implemented at locations where rehabilitated roads transect villages. These locations should be identified by the safety audit. No pedestrian priority crossings to be allowed where operating/posted speed is more than 50 km/hour. Pedestrian facilities are to be appropriate and not misleading. Education and publicity campaigns will be conducted at all locations warranting speed reduction measures and schools within ½ kilometre of road. For tender prequalifications, all roadwork contractors must undergo short (1-2 day) training course on traffic management at roadworks. Technical assistance to Highway patrols and first aid facilities on major highways to be considered. All safety related reports and materials will be provided to a road safety coordinater and will be shared with the other signees of this policy.

As reported by Ms Anita Sackey of Ghana News on September 9th 2005, a study in five African countries including Ghana showed that whilst the number of vehicles have increased from 26% to 63%, road accidents have also risen considerably from 15 % to as high as 70%. The report also indicated that 43% of persons killed annually were pedestrians and 21 per cent of those deaths involved children below the age of 16 years. 70% or persons killed were males. The question on the minds of all concerned citizens is why is the government not focusing on the real problem of improving the roads to accommodate the overcrowded vehicles on our roads?

It must be noted that considering the number of licensed vehicles in Ghana and the population of Ghanaians, this is not acceptable. Chad with a population of 9,826,419 (July 2000 est.) shows 22 such deaths in a year.

Narrow Roads

Ghana roads are too narrow. Many of the accidents recorded show vehicles running into stationary and parked vehicles, usually big trucks or petrol tankers. An emergency lane or parking space along the highway for stationary vehicles would help ease the congestion and confusion on our roads. There are literally thousands of Ghanaians dying every year due to poor road design and construction, and yet the government’s response seems inadequate.

In General News of Thursday, 7 September 2006 a visibly grieving and angry chief Asafoatse Kutor swore to do everything possible and by any means possible to prevent vehicles from killing their people. It is reported that the people of Nyangbo in the Hohoe District were planning to demonstrate on September 11, 2006 to fell trees to block the Hohoe - Accra Road that runs through the town. The action was to draw attention to the frequent fatal motor accidents that have been occurring in the town for years now and is partly attributable to the dangerous nature of the road which was full of sharp and tortuous curves.

According to Torgbui Asafoatse Kutor, Chief of the Youth of Nyangbo-Gagbefe, a fatal motor accidents has recently (September 2006) occurred in the town leading to the death of six people while about three people were maimed. He said three months ago a truck loaded with yams and travelling from Hohoe direction to Accra went off the road in a sharp curve and plunged into a house killing a couple and their three months old baby who were sleeping at night (GNA as cited in www.ghanaweb.com September 7, 2006).

The action of the chief of the Nyangbo in the Hohoe District, Asafoatse Kutor is praiseworthy and deserves our commendation, emulation and respect. Asafoatse Kutor is reported to have told the Member of Parliament for the area to forget about development projects if they would all be killed by vehicles and warned that he and his people were ready for any person, who would interfere with their attempt to safeguard their safety. ”What is the need of a school if our children are killed on their way to the school?” (Togbe Kutor)