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Ghana's Speaker justifies no statement on Kintampo road accident

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The Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Ocquaye has justified why there was no statement on the Kintampo road accident which claimed about 57 lives.

On Monday, there was a statement on the New Zealand shooting incident and a minute silence observed for the departed souls but there was no word on the deadly accidents which happened in the country over the weekend.

This got many people to take to facebook and other social media platforms to criticize MPs.

But, the Speaker said a decision was taken for the MP for the area to visit the scene and give the house an official statement before comments are made on the floor.

The speaker expressed concern over the numerous drinking spots along the roads. He said that is one of the contributory factors to the many accidents in the country, as some drivers drink along the way while driving.

Meanwhile, MP for Kintampo South Felicia Adjei who together with her colleagues from Kintampo North and Garu visited the accident scene has called on the government to declare three days of national mourning in memory of the 57 people who died in that accident.

The Kintampo South MP, in her statement said: “The Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service must pay more attention on our roads by ensuring that drivers plying our roads are well checked to ensure safety of the traveling public”.

She said government through the Ministry of Roads and Highways should as a matter of urgency, extend roads into double lanes and also provide street lights on all our major highways.

“The Road Safety Commission must ensure that enough signages are placed on strategic and dangerous portions of the road to caution drivers about the nature of the road to ensure safety”.

The MP appealed to Government to as a matter of urgency identify the families of the perished victims and dually support such families to recover from their loss.

For his part, the Raking Member on Roads and Transports Committee and MP for Adaklu, Kwame Governs Agbodza said: “This country has reached a point in history, which this house, the representative body of the good people of Ghana must begin to say enough is enough, never again should carnage of this proportions should be recorded on our roads”.

He said, it will require difficult policy decisions and perhaps this House legislating tougher sanctions to hold vehicle owners and some of regulatory institutions accountable, “however difficult that may appear, for the sake of the future of this great nation of ours, Ghana, we must take the step”.

This Directorate reports an average of 2,059 deaths by road accidents since 2011 and with an average of 7 deaths and 34 people sustaining serious injuries daily.

MP for Atwima Kwanwoma, Dr. Kojo Appiah-Kubi mentioned that, the rising trend of road accidents and loss of lives and properties is indeed frightening nowadays, stressing the point that, “MTTD statistics show that January and February this year alone accounted for the loss of Four Hundred and Eleven (411) lives through road accidents.

In terms of forgone Gross Domestic Product, or welfare in a narrow sense, estimates show that Ghana loses over 230 million dollars yearly to road accidents, equivalent to 1.7% of the country’s annual Gross Domestic Product”.

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