Bad roads are the cause of accidents - Minority
Bad roads are the cause of accidents -
Minority
Accra (Greater Accra) 27 May 2000
Some members of the Minority on Tuesday heckled a Deputy Minister of Roads and Transport, Mr. Mike Hammah, for "playing down" the role bad roads play in motor accidents.
The minority said they would not take any excuse for the recent spate of accidents that have robbed many families of loved ones. As Mr. Hammah went on, the House started drawing apart on party lines.
Mrs. Theresa Tagoe, NPP-Ablekuma South, had read a statement on the recent accident that claimed the life of a student of Aburi Girls Secondary School, blaming the misfortune on the poor nature of the Accra-Cape Coast road.
The Deputy Minister in his contribution said " the fact that bad roads lead to accidents is not entirely true." Saying, indiscipline on the roads was rather a major contributory factor in avoidable accidents and their attendant loss of lives on the nation's roads.
Mr. Kojo Armah, CPP-Evalue Gwira, said the state of roads in the country shows the level of importance the government attaches to the lives of Ghanaians. "Are we going to see this as the last or one of the several sad events that are going to be heard", he asked.
Some took a more religious stand, "When students are travelling, they should pray, they should sing songs that would let the Lord take them to their destination safely," Mr. Francis Kwasi Bour NPP-Offinso South said.
Mr. Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, NPP-Sunyani West, appealed for proper organisation of emergency infrastructure and personnel to handle such accidents' saying it should not always be for the "speciality of a particular case" that the whole nation goes back to reflect on its problems.
Mr. Kwabena Fosu, NDC- Asikuma/Odoben/Brakwa, asked the House to depart from the annual ritual of just talking and mourning misfortunes without doing anything about it and called for constant Police patrols on highways and a strict adherence to traffic rules.
GRi…/