Tamale, June 25, GNA – The National Road Safety Authority (NSRA), on Thursday, engaged stakeholders in the transport sector to solicit their inputs on the drafting of a new Legislative Instrument (LI) which would regulate and promote road safety in the country.
The engagement, held in Tamale, was part of an ongoing nationwide consultative meeting being organized by the NRSA, to school stakeholders on the drafted LI, which would enable the NRSA to coordinate and regulate activities, procedures, and standards related to road safety and related matters in the country.
It brought together representatives from the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Ghana National Cargo Association (GNCA), National Ambulance Service amongst other groups.
Mr Martin Owusu Afram, the Director of Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the NRSA said in August 2019, the National Road Safety Commission was converted into the NRSA per an Act of Parliament (Act 993).
He said, “to operationalise the Act 993 which established the Authority, and to be able to give it legislative framework and its regulatory functions, an LI has been drafted, and there is the need to seek the views of our key stakeholders to make it a workable document”.
He explained that the Act 993 would mandate the Authority to ensure that incidences of road traffic crashes, fatalities and injuries are reduced, adding that, it would help promote road safety development and coordinate road safety-related policies as well as implement and enforce standards for road safety.
Alhaji Abukari Mahama, a representative from the Northern Regional branch of the GNCA, expressed worry that drivers contributed so much money in their already existing unions and associations, and the new Act 993 made provision for additional payment, which he said would be a problem for them.
“We drivers have been contributing a lot of money to transport unions and at the end of the day, we do not get any end-of-service benefit, and they are adding new ones which I think will be a problem”, he added.
He, therefore, appealed to authorities to relook at that provision and ensure that no additional contribution was given to drivers to relieve them of the financial burden
GNA