blank
search-icon
Blog

Laws Are Meant to be Enforced, Not to Be Bargained With | High Level of Indiscipline on Ghanaian Roads

Ghana Police
Ghana Police

It sometimes baffles me how the authorities in Ghana can be so ineffectual when it comes to some crucial parts of their job; most notably the Police Service and the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU).

I mention these two because they are in charge of enforcing traffic laws in the country, and some of the worst indiscipline on display by Ghanaians occurs on our roads. A certain public service announcement currently being run on TV in Ghana, to me, perfectly encapsulates the problem with these two bodies and authority bodies in the country in General.

There is a two lane dual carriage way in Kaneshie that is overarched by the Kaneshie overpass. Anyone familiar with the area would know the heavy use it sees every single day, since Kaneshie is one of the busiest centres of the city.

Due to the girth of the road (two lanes running in either direction), and a roughly 3 and a half foot railing dividing either side, it is not the easiest road to cross. That’s because it’s not meant to be crossed there, the overpass being the only way to get across it for a significant distance in either direction.

Yet people go through the middle to cross all the time, because using the overpass looks like an inconvenience sometimes due to the distance you have to travel, get across it, and maybe walk a few metres back in the direction you came from; so people often choose the easier way across.

Now back to this announcement, it is a video of some people crossing the road via these illegal means, with the caption ‘what is wrong with this picture’. The implication here is that these people are doing something wrong, and us the rest of the population should see it and desist from it.

For me the law is the law, and you break it you suffer the consequences. Why should authorities be ‘bargaining with people’, trying to get them not to use the illegal means when no measures have been taken to stop people from crossing via the road?

What’s stopping the Police or MTTU to station a few personnel there to enforce this provision? It’s not like they’re doing anything else. All over the country traffic laws are flaunted with impunity, and it is because of this attitude of bargaining with the law rather than enforcing it.

If the Police made a few arrests on that road and publicised it, people would desist from continuing these actions. When people see the inconvenience of being arrested, being taken into custody, a hearing before court and all the attendant legal formalities nobody would willingly risk that just to take a few minutes short cut.

Most importantly, it shows the police are willing to enforce the law, which honestly is their job anyway. A few more operations like this and we might get saner roads and avoid the huge number of traffic accidents Ghana records every year.



READ ALSO: Refused A UK Visa? CLICK HERE FOR HELP

CLICK HERE to subscribe to our daily up-to-date news!!

POPULAR POSTS

LATEST NEWS

MORE FROM Blog

No related posts found...

Leave a Reply