What I told "Daily Graphic" about Combatting Road Indiscipline

1Over the weekend, Daily Graphic journalist Samuel K Obour (https://www.facebook.com/skobour) contacted me to seek my opinions for the "forum" section of Saturday's "GRAPHIC". Here are what you're likely to see.

    What are your views on the spate of road accidents in the country?

I think it’s frankly criminal that Ghana is becoming known as an accident-prone country, especially when we have a National Road Safety Commission that is supposed to advocate for discipline on the roads. We complain about potholes till the cows come home, yet as soon as they get repaired, we abuse the smooth roads and kill ourselves. Is that not a reflection of our indiscipline? Couple this with the continuous use of BENZ 207s, which happen to be owned by private citizens, by tro-tro drivers and we have a situation where the private owners of these vehicles appear more interested in the bottom line at the end of the day, than the service they provide for passengers.

2.    Would you say the high spate of road accidents is bad for our country's image?

Absolutely. I do not think any one can understand a situation where people complain about the potholes, but then are killed when the roads are good. It says to people that we are terribly unserious and that our institutions are also not working the way they should. This is unfortunate because I have interacted a number of occasions with the NRSC and they do do good work. Sadly, I think they have not yet capitalized on the social media experience to reach out to people – especially the youth who are increasingly getting onto the roads at younger ages, and are “accident-averse “. 

3.    What do you think are the causes of road accidents in the country?

If I were to enumerate them, the number one cause would be road indiscipline, especially by tro-tro drivers and commercial drivers. 

I don’t want to make the mistake of casting the net writ large and accusing all commercial drivers of being illiterate, because I have even met a few graduates in these capacities, but I do want to say that most of them are semi-illiterate. This does not help because it means that they are unable to understand road signs in the way that literate people would do. They are also unlikely to understand the reasons behind certain signs, or who has right of way, that kind of thing. So, my second point would be road safety illiteracy. 

Third, poor communication by NRSC. As the frontline agency promoting road safety, its efforts are at best minimalist. It needs to do more outreach, especially to the youth who are likely to be more reckless than people of my parent’s generation. Let’s be frank: anyone can drive a car, but not everyone can understand that you don’t overtake when there are double-lines, or that a curve is the most dangerous place to overtake. The youth and young-at-heart are likely to take foolish and stupid risks, which if the NRSC preempted, could target effectively.  The NRSC needs to get serious on New Media (FB/twitter) and make toll-free numbers for ALL networks—not just for Expresso, MTN and one or two. 

As for the TEMA motorway, the government must get serious on using targeted communication to users of that motorway, and fix back the phone booths that the visionary Kwame Nkrumah established when the motorway was built. Even if mobile phones are de rigeur, there is no reason one cannot complement these booths with the promotion of excellent network coverage for subscribers to be able to call emergency numbers 24/7.

4.    What should be done to tackle the road accident menace?

Pls see above!

5.    Your conclusion

Pls see above, but also: TV3 / Metro TV/ Net2 and all our TV and radio stations should set up MMS services so that people can send pictures freely and easily to their servers, which can relayt these to the police. The police, for example, had a twitter account on @ghanapolice. Since March, it has not been working. If it did work, those on social media could send pictures to those working on the GHANA POLICE twitter account.

In short, Ghana Police should act both as a SERVICE and a FORCE to ensure that they establish links with agencies like the NRSC to give us a sustainable and healthy Ghana we so long for.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being...in Spintex Road Traffic

Roads are our lifeblood. It is what we need to move from A to B. It is what helps us get to our destination. So, when we do not move on it quickly, it invariably becomes more than a headache. We cannot avoid traffic--there will always be accidents, people driving crazily and/or carelessly/foolishly--but we can certainly avoid a situation where the most important parts of our morning are eaten up in traffic on the only thoroughfare that will take us into the capital!

I took the picture this morning to first, indicate where the origin of some of the worst traffic comes from, and secondly, to signal that all the noise I had been making to the National Road Safety Commission might just have paid off!

I know because when I called--yet again--this morning, the lady immediately recognised my voice and greeted it with a chuckle.

Then she said that she had called one police officer at the Motor Transport Unit, subsequently rattling of a phone number for me to verify whether she had called.

I brought the tempo down by explaining if she says she has called, then there would be no need for me to call. She promised to call me back, which she did, explaining that the MTTU has a problem with their "roster" [good grief!] so were re-scheduling.

The good news was that the hot line room would call me early tomorrow morning to check whether the police had been dispatched! Oh joy!

Ain't complaining grand!;-D

While I'm jubilating, let me do a public service by offering the number for those on the MTN network: it can be reached on short code 18008; on VODAFONE: 0800.10.800 and on land line 021.912.107

Store it on your mobiles now! The more of us complain, the more pressure will be brought on the Motor Transport Traffic Unit of the Ghana Police to get their act together!

Mid-Week Madness: Re-dux: This is What Young Ghanaian Journalists Should Aspire To; The Inconsistency of Spintex Road Police

Back in 2007, I wrote a blog post, praising Business&Financial Times Journalist Moses Dzawu (now a Deputy News Editor!) who picked up my story of a piece of news I had heard on the radio about Stanbic Bank wanting to take over Ghana's only Agricultural Development Bank. I had spoken with him on Sunday night. By Monday, the front-page of BFT was asking whether ADB was being sold to Stanbic!!

Three years later, I feel compelled to revisit the title, because I think CITI-fm Journalist Bernard Avle (back from studying an MBA at Warwick university in 2008/2009) a couple of months ago and back on the "CITI Breakfast Show" for Mondays-Wednesdays) deserves the accolade for picking up a piece, written by former Deputy High Commissioner in Ghana Craig Murray on his blog a few weeks ago.

The story was on corruption, and how the British government is being hypocritical by not touching on how British companies have been complicit in corrupting Ghanaian officials over a number of deals. I circulated the story last Friday afternoon. On Monday, I saw it in front of "The Insight" newspaper.

After Avle's interview of Craig Murray himself, and a hosting of a panel that included Ghana Integrity Initiative (local chapter of Transparency International)Vitus Azeem, the story has taken somewhat epic proportions. The actual story is here: http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/02/the_uk_and_corr.html#comments. I must, in fact, thank my British blogger-friend (since 2005) Daniel Hoffman-Gill, which website I found the link on last week! Thanks Daniel!

Meanwhile, I am getting frustrated in using the Spintex Road as the Ghana Police (motor Transport Unit) continue to show the same inconsistency I complained of in the last post. They simply are not deploying--either on time, or at all--police to stop all sorts of cars creating confusion on the road. When they're there, the traffic assumes a sanity that is refreshing. Refreshing because it is so rare for the road to be sane!

I wasted units calling the National Road Safety Commission hotline on MTN 18001 today. It didn't go through, so I was compelled to call their landline--only to be told that there was an electrical fault.

With a hotline?

Only in Ghana!

Truth be told, yesterday, when I did call, they picked it up and called me back to say that they have informed the Motor Transport Unit of the Ghana Police and they have been dispatched. Need they be told? I wondered. They didn't have an answer for me. This morning, I got the lie that the MTTU had been deployed. We had been on the road since 7.45am and it was as choked as ever, developing multiple lanes thanks to commuters using shortcuts that fed into the road.

I fear what tomorrow will bring, but I ain't giving up calling them, or radio stations to get the message across that Ghana Police are not helping us...