President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said the growing phenomenon of road accidents in Ghana and other parts of the world should be seen as a “global pandemic” that requires urgent attention in order to arrest the situation.
Addressing the maiden edition of the Kofi Annan Road Safety Award, at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo said immediate action was required to halt the increasing spate of road accidents on the African continent.
“We must treat road traffic accidents as a global pandemic and assume equally, a more proactive and responsible attitude to deal with it. Increasingly, the exposure of pedestrians and motorcycles to the risk of road traffic casualties particularly in the urban environment can no longer be overlooked.”
This worrying phenomenon, according to President Akufo-Addo, is “partly the outcome of poor planning, inadequate provision of safer access facilities to vulnerable road users, low level of institutional commitment to road safety, and rising levels of indiscipline on the part of road users.
“This situation is not unique to Ghana and reflects the situation, unfortunately, in other parts of the continent. It is challenging but not a hopeless situation”.
Road safety in Ghana
Touching on the situation in Ghana, President Akufo-Addo, said his government acknowledged that “the current road safety situation is not satisfactory.”
To this end, the President said he and his government “remain committed to scaling up investments in road safety initiatives and in building partnerships that will help engineer improvements.”
“We cannot rest on our oars. We must act timely, and decisively to arrest the situation,” the President said.
SDG goal 11
“Recognizing the significant negative impact of road crashes around the world,” President Akufo-Addo observed.
According to him, “the United Nations has committed itself to the realization of sustainable development goal (SDG) number 11, which demands that governments provide access for safe, affordable, assessable and sustainable transport systems for all by 2030”.
President said Ghana was happy to host in Accra, the maiden edition of the Kofi Annan Road Safety Award ceremony.
“It is my fervent hope that it will spur our respective countries to develop and implement innovative initiatives to save lives on Africa’s roads,” Akufo-Addo said.
Award initiative
The Kofi Annan Road Safety Award is an initiative of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Secretariat of the United-Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, and the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Ghana.
The initiative is supported by the Kofi Annan Foundation. Its main focus is to motivate key stakeholders, (governments, private sector, and civil society organizations) to develop and implement innovative and outstanding initiatives to save lives on Africa’s roads.
President Akufo-Addo said his expectation is that this award ceremony “will encourage our respective countries on the continent to learn from best practices and experiences around the globe to tackle the road safety situation”.
Award winners
Ghana at the maiden award, received a plaque for excellence in the implementation of the Africa Road Safety Action Plan 2011 to 2020. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the transport minister, received the award on behalf of Ghana.
For her leadership in the ratification of the Africa Road Safety Charter, the Namibian High Commissioner to Ghana, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, received a plaque on behalf of Namibia.
Nigeria received the third award for Excellence in Road Safety Management.
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the Nigerian Minister for Transport received the award on behalf of his country.
The Kingdom of Morocco picked up the award for leadership in Road Safety Data Management.
The Director-General of National Road Safety for Morocco, Benaceur Boulaajoul, received the plaque on behalf of Morocco.
The last award went to South Africa for Leadership in Mobilizing Resources for Road Safety.
The South African Transport Minister, Fikile Mbalula, received the award on behalf of his nation.
Africa road safety concerns
Africa pays the heaviest price with the world’s highest fatality rate of 26.6 road deaths per 100,000 population compared to the world average of 17.5 per 100,000 and 9.3 per 100,000 in Europe (WHO).
A child in Africa is twice as likely to die on the road than a child in any other part of the world.
It is, therefore, crucial to re-double efforts on the African continent.
The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt noted, “Increasing effective actions to stop the carnage on African roads is imperative if we are to achieve the new decade of ‘Action for Road Safety’, aiming to halve the road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. It is arguably the most affected region on the planet.”
Ghana is among the countries that report a high prevalence of road traffic deaths, with 24.9 per 100,000 inhabitants (WHO 2016).
Nearly 2,000 lives are lost in the country each year due to crashes – and pedestrians are particularly at risk.
